Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma

Colourful, funny, joyful and compelling * Observer *
There’s little doubt that this young writer is going to be a star… In the course of this picaresque and haunting tale, Hudson achieves something rare and remarkable. While comparison will inevitably be made between her work and that of Irvine Welsh or Alan Warner, she is wholly individual – Rosemary Goring * Herald Scotland *
Kerry Hudson’s fine, eloquent debut novel traces the peripatetic childhood of Janie Ryan…her tale is full of warmth and bittersweet humour * Financial Times *
Real and heartfelt… Hudson avoids the usual sentimental clichés and gives us, without a shred of hipster cynicism, the hope and tough warmth for which she has such a sharp eye – Jenn Ashworth * Guardian *
A gritty, tough, sweet , sad, funny story of urban survival. Recommended * Diva *
A sympathetic coming-of-age tale and a valuable counterpoint to widespread social attitudes to women in poverty – Anthony Cummins * Metro *
Concurrently very funny and incredibly sad. The writing sizzles, and the words jump off the page as Hudson describes a world of fags, booze, bingo and worse. We watch our heroine Janie Ryan struggle through it all with humour and a will to survive. I was cheering her on all the way, and I’m sure you will, too – Cathy Rentzenbrink * Waterstone’s, Bookseller *
A laugh out loud read * In Style *
Told with such an honest and engaging voice that you can’t help but turn the page * ReadBetweenTheLines *
This is a remarkable debut novel of love and loyalty, of fierce passion and scabrous wit, full of characters whose broad vernacular is direct and expressive. This is about a culture with just as much right to be called British as that of middle-class suburbia * Foyles.co.uk *

Kerry Hudson was born in Aberdeen. Her first novel, Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma, won the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust First Book Award and was shortlisted for an array of prizes including the Guardian First Book Award and the Sky Arts Award. Thirst, her second novel, won the prestigious Prix Femina etranger. Lowborn, her highly acclaimed first work of non-fiction, was a Radio 4 Book of the Week, a Guardian and Spectator Book of the Year and Stylist Book of the Decade. It is followed by Newborn. She was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2020.

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