A working-class Romeo & Juliet set in the beauty and squalor of the Yorkshire edgelands

'A glittering exploration of love's many faces - Wild Ground aches with hard-won hope and bruised tenderness' Colin Walsh, author of Kala 'An intoxicating debut from a compelling new voice' Adelle Stripe, author of Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile When Neef was twelve, her mother moved them out of Leeds and into her boyfriend's flat miles away. Resentful and unwelcome in their small Yorkshire town, Neef found solace in Danny, only a year older and an outsider himself. As they grew into young adults, they clung to an imagined future together, far away from the substance abuse, poverty and racism that held them and their families hostage. Fifteen years later, Danny's father tracks her down in London in search of his missing son. Forced to confront the decisions she made and the person she became, Neef is faced with the question that's troubled her all these years: can she ever move on from her first love? 'A heart-breaking tale of love and loss, and a thought-provoking examination of how our histories haunt us' Jenna Clake, author of Disturbance

"Usher's prose is electric - each character, place, and location surges with a gripping urgency and vitality. Her narrative world, however chilling, feels totally honest, alive, and exacting. Usher's pacing, too, is remarkable; each turn is unexpected and yet wholly fitting, each transition between present and past seamless and ensnaring. Both harrowing and hopeful, a generative bildungsroman from an exciting debut novelist." - Kirkus reviews