Mottley, Leila – The Bell Bookshop

The Girls Who Grew Big

Emma — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

‘Written in big, beautiful prose that expands throughout the novel and leaves the reader full and satisfied ? Leila Mottley’s grasp of human nature is unmatched’ CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS

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From the author of the Booker nominated, international bestseller Nightcrawling: a novel about the joys and entanglements of a fierce group of teenage mothers in a Florida beach town.

When Adela Woods tells her parents she’s pregnant, they immediately send her a thousand miles away to stay with her grandmother in Padua Beach. The intention is that she will leave her baby in ‘the forgotten Panhandle of Florida’. and resume her suburban life nine months later as though nothing happened. But Adela’s plans are soon washed away by the tide.

First, Adela meets Emory, a new mother determined to defy the expectations of everyone around her, returning to high school with her newborn baby strapped to her chest. Then she meets Simone, ringleader of ‘the Girls,’ a group of young mothers who create a village together in the back of her red truck-dancing, breastfeeding, raising their children and themselves.

The town thinks they’ve lost their way. Really, they are finding it.

But as they look for love, make and break friendships, navigate the miracle of motherhood and the paradox of girlhood, Adela, Emory and Simone also find themselves on an inescapable collision course with one another.

A novel full of heart and life and hope, set against the shifting sands of secrets and betrayals, The Girls Who Grew Big offers an explosive new perspective on what it means to be a young woman, a daughter, and a mother.

‘Opens up the world of young mothers in its makeshift, sticky, struggling glory … Sensuous, gripping and utterly believable’ EMMA DONOGHUE

Nightcrawling

Emma — Thu, 25 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2022 – THE YOUNGEST EVER BOOKER NOMINEETHE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER_______________‘Mottley attempts to do for Oakland something of what The Wire did for Baltimore‘ THE TIMES‘A soul-searching portrait of survival and hope’ OPRAH WINFREY_______________We’ll laugh because we can, until the sun disintegrates and nighttime threatens to set us free just to capture us again, back into the things we can’t escape.Kiara does not know what it is to live as a normal seventeen-year-old. With her mother in a halfway house, she fends for herself – and for nine-year-old Trevor, whose own mother disappears for days at a time. But as the pressures of rent to pay and mouths to feed increase, Kiara finds herself walking the streets after dark, determined to survive in a world that refuses to protect her.Nightcrawling is an unforgettable novel about young people navigating the darkest corners of an adult world, told with a humanity that is at once agonising and utterly mesmerising._______________‘UNFORGETTABLE’ GUARDIAN‘A MAGNIFICENT DEBUT’ RUTH OZEKI, winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022_______________READERS CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF NIGHTCRAWLING‘Nightcrawling is a lyrical masterpiece’ *****’This book ripped my heart out’ *****’Unputdownable . . . From the first page I was hooked’ *****’This is a heart-achingly necessary book which will carve a hole in your soul and stay with you forever’ ***** ‘It is rare to read a first novel so perfectly crafted’ *****’This is an absolute must-read. Five stars out of five’ *****’Completely gripping . . . This is going to be a huge bestseller’ *****

Nightcrawling

Emma — Tue, 07 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2022 – THE YOUNGEST EVER BOOKER NOMINEETHE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER‘MOTTLEY ATTEMPTS TO DO FOR OAKLAND SOMETHING OF WHAT THE WIRE DID FOR BALTIMORE’ THE TIMES‘A SOUL-SEARCHING PORTRAIT OF SURVIVAL AND HOPE’ OPRAH WINFREYWhen there is no choice, all you have left to do is walk.Kiara Johnson does not know what it is to live as a normal seventeen-year-old. With her mother in a rehab facility and an older brother who devotes his time and money to a recording studio, she fends for herself – and for nine-year-old Trevor, whose own mother is prone to disappearing for days at a time. As the landlord of their apartment block threatens to raise their rent, Kiara finds herself walking the streets after dark, determined to survive in a world that refuses to protect her.Then one night Kiara is picked up by two police officers, and the gruesome deal she is offered in exchange for her freedom lands her at the centre of a media storm. If she agrees to testify in a grand jury trial, she could help expose the sickening corruption of a police department. But honesty comes at a price – one that could leave her family vulnerable to their retaliation, and endanger everyone she loves.Nightcrawling is an unforgettable novel about young people navigating the darkest corners of an adult world, told with a humanity that is at once agonising and utterly mesmerising.————————————–‘UNFORGETTABLE’ GUARDIAN‘A MAGNIFICENT DEBUT’ RUTH OZEKI, winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022————————————–READERS CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF NIGHTCRAWLING‘Nightcrawling is a lyrical masterpiece’ *****’This book ripped my heart out’ *****’Unputdownable . . . From the first page I was hooked’ *****’This is a heart-achingly necessary book which will carve a hole in your soul and stay with you forever’ ***** ‘It is rare to read a first novel so perfectly crafted’ *****’This is an absolute must-read. Five stars out of five’ *****’Completely gripping . . . This is going to be a huge bestseller’ *****