little scratch

**Shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2021****An Observer 10 Best Debut Novelists of 2021**'An extremely perceptive depiction of power and agency.' Guardian'Startlingly original.' VOGUE'Extraordinary.' New Yorkerlittle scratch tells the story of a day in the life of an unnamed woman, living in a lower-case world of demarcated fridge shelves and office politics; clock-watching and WhatsApp notifications. In a voice that is fiercely wry, touchingly delicate and increasingly neurotic, the protagonist relays what it takes to get through the quotidian detail of that single trajectory - from morning to night - while processing recent sexual violence. little scratch is about the coexistence of monotony with our waking, intelligent lives.

It is a powerful evocation of how the external and internal aspects of our lives exist in a helix, and what it means to live out the course of a single day consumed by trauma. 'Wry, funny and heartbreaking.' Sophie Mackintosh'little scratch is a story that is urgent. It is a story that needs to be told.' Meena Kandasamy'Reads like the cinders settling in the air after an explosion...

daring and completely readable.' Colin Barrett'little scratch is a little miracle... impossible to read it and not wish there were more books like it.' Alan Trotter'Confident and vital... little scratch is an absolute gift.' Naoise Dolanwww.rebeccawatson.co.uk