Cowan's beautifully drawn, multi award-winning first novel of love in the hostile climate of modern British society

When his grandmother dies, and his grandfather is removed to a home, fifteen-year-old Danny determines to look after their elderly pig and ramshackle garden. Here, on the ragged edge of a blighted new town, Danny and his Indian girlfriend Surinder create a fragile haven from the enclosing world of racist neighbours and stifling families, a summer's refuge from the precariousness of their future.

"A coming-of-age story as strange and surprising, in its way, as THE CATCHER IN THE RYE" - New York Times

"Cowan's writing is reminiscent of Roddy Doyle's in his ability to recreate the intense emotions of youth." - The Good Book Guide

"A first novel of extraordinary poise and accomplishment, treating a boy's coming of age amid the squalid realities of the new British underclass with a delicacy and lyricism which is both gripping and moving" - Michael Dibdin

"The detail is immaculately recorded; the effect is heartbreaking" - Louisa Young, Sunday Times

"[A] wholly satisfying book, quietly beautiful and inescapably ominous" - David Buckley, Observer

"Beautifully evoked ... Cowan writes with a deceptive simplicity" - Amanda Craig, The Times

"A wonderful first novel" - Christopher Hart, Daily Telegraph