The Killing Jar

A shocking, vibrant, addictive story of a girl growing up on a drug-fuelled estate in Nottingham, from an exciting and explosvie new talent. 
 
Winner of the Betty Trask Award and Author's Club First Novel Award.

Nicola Monaghan has produced an utterly compelling and depressing narrative of life on a council estate in one of Nottingham’s worst boroughs… [A]n inspiring debut.

Kerrie Ann's strident voice sounds authentic; her plight compelling and affecting

Monaghan's novel is direct and deceptively simple. In spite of the suffering there are surprising touches of humour and tenderness that bloom like flowers on asphalt

A shocking glimpse of Nottingham gangland

A wonderful novel... I am full of admiration

A gripping tale about how easily a life can spiral out of control

Nicola Monaghan graduated from the University of York in 1992, and went on to teach for several years before taking a job in the City of London. A career in finance took her to New York, Paris and Chicago, before she gave it all up in 2001 to return to her home town and pursue an MA in creative writing at Nottingham Trent University. The Killing Jar, Nicola's first novel, was inspired by the lives she witnessed on the council estates where she grew up - it won a Betty Trask Award and the Author's Club First Novel Award. Her second novel is Starfishing. She is currently Fellow of the National Academy of Writing, based at UCE Birmingham, where she runs the diploma course in Creative Writing with a professional focus.

Five-year-old Kerrie-Ann Hill has an unusual neighbour. Mrs Ivanovich collects butterflies and she shows Kerrie-Ann how to catch them, take care of them, and evenhow to kill them using a jar and some funny-smelling liquid. Kerrie-Ann loves looking at these beautiful, delicate creatures, and imagines them flying free... 
 
This is Kerrie-Ann's story. She doesn't know who her father is, and her mother is a junkie. By the age of ten, she's selling drugs at school. By twelve, she's been beaten up by a customer, hidden stolen guns, done time in a girls' home, and already has a taste for whizz. 
 
And then there's Mark - her only true friend and the one person she can trust. Their friendship turns into a powerful love and together they are invincible. But in their world it's easy to lose control. On the drug-riddled estate with an atmosphere as lethal as a killing jar, it seems that Kerrie-Ann doesn't stand a chance. Unless she can make use of what Mrs Ivanovich taught her all those years ago.

Nicola Monaghan

Monaghan's second novel fizzes along with some verve, capturing the empty heart of the greed-is-good generation

Exciting and fluent... breathtaking in its pursuit of a game-playing relationship, and shocking in its suggestion of a moral vacuum that pulls in the major players

Monaghan - who has a background in finance - is adept at conjuring the giddy excitement and highs of life on the edge. However, the pace and claustrophobic atmosphere also serve to make this an almost unbearably tense read at times

It's 1997 and party girl Frankie Cavanagh has just started working in the City, experiencing life on the trading floor in all its sweaty, macho madness. She plunges headfirst into the frenzy of the financial markets as well as the drug-fuelled club culture: Frankie works hard, parties hard and gives as good as she gets. 
 
But when she embarks on a dangerous, thrill-seeking affair with her married boss, Frankie begins to lose her grip. Just how far will she go for a dare? In this world of high-octane party nights and high-stake big money deals, a girl could get pushed too far...

Nicola Monaghan

Praise for Starfishing

Monaghan's second novel fizzes along with some verve, capturing the empty heart of the greed-is-good generation

Exciting and fluent... breathtaking in its pursuit of a game-playing relationship, and shocking in its suggestion of a moral vacuum that pulls in the major players

Monaghan - who has a background in finance - is adept at conjuring the giddy excitement and highs of life on the edge. However, the pace and claustrophobic atmosphere also serve to make this an almost unbearably ten ...

Monaghan's second novel fizzes along with some verve, capturing the empty heart of the greed-is-good generation

Exciting and fluent... breathtaking in its pursuit of a game-playing relationship, and shocking in its suggestion of a moral vacuum that pulls in the major players

Monaghan - who has a background in finance - is adept at conjuring the giddy excitement and highs of life on the edge. However, the pace and claustrophobic atmosphere also serve to make this an almost unbearably ten ...

Monaghan's second novel fizzes along with some verve, capturing the empty heart of the greed-is-good generation

Exciting and fluent... breathtaking in its pursuit of a game-playing relationship, and shocking in its suggestion of a moral vacuum that pulls in the major players

Monaghan - who has a background in finance - is adept at conjuring the giddy excitement and highs of life on the edge. However, the pace and claustrophobic atmosphere also serve to make this an almost unbearably ten ...

Books by Nicola Monaghan

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