Fiction Street - A Short Story
Page 3
PRAISE FOR PIGGY MONK SQUARE
‘A stunningly well-written novel. I didn’t want it to end. Tense, joyous, terrifying, comic, tender, magic and tragic – just like childhood itself.’ -Willy Russell
‘Piggy Monk Square is unbearably tense and utterly believable. The voice of its young heroine is so beguiling and convincing that you feel that you've met her. And then the story forces you to share her terrible secret. Like the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle: illuminating and satisfying.’ -Frank Cottrell Boyce
‘Nine-year-old Rebecca, chirpy as her nickname, "Sparra", is the lively narrator of this disturbing child's-eye view of 1970s Toxteth, over which the spectres of poverty and police brutality hang. Her mum and dad quarrel and she hates school, where the sadistic Mr. Shelby hits her for misdemeanors. Sparra and her friend Debbie get their kicks roaming the streets, fighting their arch-enemies Uffo and Lippo, laughing at the drunken antics of crazy Harold and his wife with their dead baby's pram, and running from the man they call Stabber the psycho-killer. Their favourite place is the cellar of a bombed-out house in Piggy Monk Square, but that is spoilt when a scary cop warns them away. The tables are turned when the cop falls into the cellar and lies there injured. The real punch of this slice-of-life tale comes from the appalling isolation of Sparra's childhood. Grown-ups don't listen to the likes of Sparra. The punch leaves you gasping.’ -Rachel Hore – The Guardian
‘Capturing the vividness of childhood and the exuberant cadence of Liverpudlian childhood slang. It’s a subtle but compulsively readable novel, combining the bittersweet provincial nostalgia of, say, Meera Syal’s Anita and Me, with a dark and subversive parable that has echoes of Whistle down the Wind.’ -Laurence Phelan - Independent On Sunday
‘A gripping, intriguing page-turner which bears testimony to the craft of Jolliffe… One of its most appealing facets is the authentic use of language which at times mirrors the first person appeal of the autistic teenager in Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident Of the Dog in the Night Time. Grace’s Liverpool childhood has helped her create a truly believable character in her book. It’s also laced with some wry scouse humour too.’ -Mike Chapple - Daily Post
‘Within a very few pages this novel draws you in. Piggy Monk Square deserves success and would certainly make a great film.’ -Maria Ross - Publishing News
‘A tight and tensely written story that captures well the imagination of children as well as the confusion and alienation that is so often a part of growing up, trying to follow the rules of the adult world when they keep changing. An excellent debut novel.’ -Ken Taylor Nerve Magazine.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Jolliffe grew up in Toxteth, Liverpool. As well as being born in the upstairs bedroom of the house you see above, Grace wrote a lot of stories there too.
Her mother was a Liverpudlian and her father an Irish immigrant who took the cattle boat with his brothers to follow the emigration trail to Liverpool in the 1950’s.
The family became returning emigrants when they moved back to Ireland when Grace was a teenager.
Grace now lives with her husband in Galway where she is busy writing. She writes for adults, as well as children and enjoys both equally.
Her first novel, Piggy Monk Square was originally published by Tindal Street Press and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writer’s prize.
Grace’s writing has been widely published, in both magazines and newspapers. She has also written for television, film and radio. Her short films have won several awards at film festivals.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
FICTION STREET
Published 2016
By
PCW
Text copyright 2016 Grace Jolliffe
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form, or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical including photocopying, taping and recording, without prior written permission from the author.
PIGGY MONK SQUARE
AVAILABLE FROM ALL GOOD ONLINE RETAILERS
Table of Contents
FICTION STREET - GRACE JOLLIFFE
PIGGY MONK SQUARE
PRAISE FOR PIGGY MONK SQUARE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR