Press Reviews

• David Peace

  Only Here, Only Now heralds the arrival of an urgent and unique new voice, as engaging and as startling as Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, Morvern Callar or The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, and will surely be hailed as one of the great British debut novels

• Michael Sheen

  Tom Newlands is the real thing. His story will change you

• Cathi Unsworth, author of Weirdo, Bad Penny Blues

  In a tremendous act of empathy, in his debut novel Tom Newlands describes both an abandoned, neglected landscape - the small Scottish seaside town of Muircross after the collapse of the mining industry - and what it is like to be inside the mind of a young girl, Cora Mowat, who has undiagnosed ADHD. By turns heartbreaking and hilarious, this is a story of survival against grim odds, superbly spun by a narrator grappling to get to grips with both herself and the incomprehensible world around her. Cora Mowat is my kind of weirdo

• Karl Geary, author of Juno Loves Legs

  Tom Newland's Only Here, Only Now is a piercing howl of a novel, sharp, elegant and humane. I loved it

• BBC Culture

  A coming-of-age novel that takes the reader inside the brilliant, fizzing mind of a teenage girl with ADHD growing up in post-industrial Scotland. Funny and fierce

• Daily Express

  Heartbreaking and hilarious . . . the story of a Scottish girl with undiagnosed ADHD, trying to make sense of the world

• Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things

  A funny, truthful, heartbreaking yet hopeful read

• Roddy Doyle

  This isn't just a great first novel; it's a great novel. And Cora, the mad, chaotic, wise, funny narrator, is one of the great characters

• Christopher Brookmyre, author of Quite Ugly One Morning

  A breathtaking debut from an exciting new storytelling talent. Wise, funny, tragic and hopeful.Cora and her world are heart-rendingly authentic

• Katherine May, author of Wintering

  An astonishing debut, full of grit, humour and truth. I defy you not to fall in love with Cora Mowat

• Amy Twigg, author of Spoilt Creatures

  I loved Only Here, Only Now. Tender, achingly funny and full of truth

• Herald

  Think Shuggie Bain. Think Trainspotting. Think The Cutting Room. You can add Tom Newlands to that list. Only Here, Only Now is the Scottish writer's debut novel and it's a brammer . . . A vivid, synesthetic piece of writing . . . What's thrilling is that the book goes in the directions you are not expecting. And at its heart there is the unmistakeable voice of this flawed, messy, anxious, kind of heroic teenage girl. The Scottish book of the summer

• Victoria MacKenzie, author of For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain

  Only Here, Only Now is one of the best debuts I've read in years. Cora Mowat is an iconic heroine, growing up against the odds; she's a feisty, Impulse-drenched, Lilt-blooded smasher of a main character and Tom Newland's prose is fierce and tender, taking us straight to the thudding heart of Cora's chaotic life. A wonderful, gut-wrenching, heart-soaring novel

• Nathan Filer, author of The Shock of the Fall

  It's not every day you read a modern classic. But this feels destined to become one. A thunderous achievement

• Observer

  Rich and vivid . . . Tom Newlands may make several prize lists for his stunning debut, a portrait of a teenager with undiagnosed ADHD in a working-class, post-industrial community in Scotland . . . Newlands's impulsive, bold protagonist, who dreams big despite having very little, is richly layered . . . This sprawling coming-of-age tale explores poverty, belonging, grief and rage, and Newlands writes with such energy that his book, though bleak, is hard to put down . . . But what impresses most is the author's compassion for his flawed characters. There's humour as well as love, hope and resilience in this accomplished novel

• Guardian

  Glorious . . . so unusual, so moving, so memorable . . . Cora's neurodivergence is vividly, uniquely present . . . Newlands casts a new light on the experience of living with ADHD