'Cowan has the rare ability to write an ambitious novel in a tone which is both intimate and engaging...He creates a fictional world at once bleak and tender, a beautifully exact portrait of a 1900s inner city' -- The Times 'Cowan's observation is superb' -- TLS '[He writes with] freshness and authenticity..Cowan understands the real pain of life's moments of pathos' -- New Statesman 'A fine and acutely perceived novel' -- Independent PRAISE FOR PIG -- . 'A coming-of-age story as strange and surprising, in its way, as THE CATCHER IN THE RYE' -- New York Times 'A first novel of extraordinary poise and accomplishment, treating a boy's coming of age amid the squalid realities of the new British underclass with a delicacy and lyricism which is both gripping and moving' -- Michael Dibdin 'The detail is immaculately recorded; the effect is heartbreaking' -- Louisa Young, Sunday Times '[A] wholly satisfying book, quietly beautiful and inescapably ominous' -- David Buckley, Observer 'Beautifully evoked ... Cowan writes with a deceptive simplicity' -- Amanda Craig, The Times 'A wonderful first novel' -- Christopher Hart, Daily Telegraph