When twelve-year-old Sherrie-Lee witnesses a failed bank robbery in her neglected town, she seizes an opportunity to claim a new identity for herself. Escaping her troubled home life, she tries out a new name and invents stories and personas to cover her tracks.

Sherrie-Lee finds both possibility and loneliness in this new freedom, as well as an unusual friendship which she nurtures. But harsh realities close in, and she's plagued with foreboding - from her vulnerable brother at home to the climate crisis. While she dreams of a kinder world, it won't be long before her own deceits start catching up with her.

This arresting debut challenges assumptions and captures the powerless yearning of adolescence with a voice that is fresh, magnetic and often funny - one that pulls you in and won't let go.

About the Author
Alison Armstrong is a writer of prose and plays. She grew up in Leeds and East Yorkshire and has worked as a cleaner, waitress, painter and teacher, as well as developing her writing career. She won a Northern Writers' Award for short fiction in 2017, a Literature Matters Award from the Royal Society of Literature in 2020 and a Project Grant from Arts Council England in 2021. Her poems, essays and short stories have been published in magazines and journals. She now makes her home in Lancashire, and Fossils is her first book.

Reviews

'Compelling. The prose bubbles and snaps with an energy that's as changeable as its teen protagonist ... a stunning, important novel about poverty and hopelessness, compassion and resilience.'

-- Emily Devane

'Fossils, Alison Armstrong's debut novel, is a moving and vivid piece of storytelling. With great skill, Armstrong captures the inner life of Sherrie-Lee, a young girl without a safety net who has been left to fall between the cracks. Sherrie-Lee's exposure to darkness and the dangerous place she finds herself in is described in haunting, lyrical writing that is at all times compelling and frequently surprising.'

-- Will Mackie, New Writing North

'A moving novel about resilience and compassion in the face of a hopeless future. You will fall in love with Armstrong's protagonist, and your heart will ache for a better future for her.'

-- Kate Baguley



Book Information
ISBN 9781913393366
Author Alison Armstrong
Format Paperback
Page Count 250
Imprint Saraband
Publisher Saraband