Trouble Was : 'A gulpable coming-of-age novel about growing up too soon' - i paper, Books of the summer

''I''ve read no better novel in years'' Samantha Harvey
‘A transporting piece of 1970s gothic with a viscous sensory pull’ The Times
''Evocative, resonant, and quite simply, brilliant'' Claire Fuller
‘Like the building of a thunderstorm through a sultry day … the novel’s engines thrum from the first page’ Sarah Moss, Guardian
''Disturbing and heartbreaking in equal measure’ Hari Kunzru
‘To view the world through the lens of Frank Dart is a moving and captivating experience’ Irish Times


A powerfully evocative and tenderly realised debut novel about family secrets, the power of imagination - and coming of age in the dying dreams of the 1970s

1976. Nine-year-old Frank Dart dreams of his absent dad, away at sea; while making sure his mum’s got all the cigarettes she needs for the long drive in their battered Citroën down to their new home in North Devon.

Here in Aunt Perry’s house, Frank and his little sister Odette must make sense of their cousins’ hostility – while their mum seems to drift further and further away. The house is haunted by secrets, past and present; and as spring turns to a suffocatingly hot summer, the past threatens to boil over and scald everything in its wake.

Trouble Was is a raw and tender story of growing up too soon, betrayal and resilience, love and survival – and a dazzling exploration of toxic family politics, buried secrets and the power of the imagination.