Dear Neighbour is OUT TODAY!

My novel about community, connection, surviving austerity and found family is out now.

The wait is over. The time is now. And assorted other dramatic proclamations, because my novel Dear Neighbour is officially out today.

It’s been both joyful and bizarre to see friends sharing their photos of their pre-orders arriving over the past few days, and even more strange to know words I wrote what feels like forever ago are now finally well and truly out of my head and in other people’s hands. That those people - both total strangers and people I love and trust - are choosing to spend their precious time, cash, attention and energy on this story feels like a real privilege, and one I’m so grateful for.

This review by

Becky Handley

truly made my day:

I’ll be writing to you again soon with more in-depth reflections about what a wild ride this process has been… but today is all about celebrating this milestone. If you want to, here are some ways you can celebrate with me over the next few days:

⚡ If you’re in or near Manchester, please come down to the launch party tonight! (Tickets here or on the door)

🌀 Here are some candid answers I wrote for an interview with New Writing North. NWN also have a competition where you can win one of three copies of the beautiful hardback edition of Dear Neighbour - get the details here and enter by 19th June. You can also listen to this interview I did recently with one of my fave podcasts, The Bisexual Agenda. This was my first time talking about the book so I was nervous and rusty af but the host Kit was incredibly kind and supportive!

⚡ In less than two weeks, I’m co-headlining iconic, award-nominated Manchester spoken word night Verbose. You can see me there on Monday 26th June. (Tickets)

🌀 If you’ve already got and read your pre-order copy - thank you! As a debut novelist, reviews really make a difference in how much visibility the almighty algorithms give my book, so if you can send some stars my way on Amazon or Goodreads I’d be so grateful.

⚡ And as a token of that gratitude for all the incredible support my readers and community have given me over these past few days/weeks/months/years, I’m releasing a brand new digital edition of my debut chapbook, Truth or Dare. First published in a limited edition print run back in 2021, Truth or Dare contains eight short fiction and performance pieces, and is the first ever dedicated collection of my writing. And to celebrate the launch of Dear Neighbour, you can grab the Kindle edition for free until Monday.

I’ll be back in your inboxes before the end of the month. For now, though, thank you for being on this ride with me and helping make this dream come true. It honestly means the world.

💖

If you haven’t yet got your copy of Dear Neighbour, it’s available to buy from today at your fave indie bookshop or from Amazon / Waterstones / WHSmiths / Blackwells / Hive / Audible