This is by far one of the most powerful and evocative coming of age tales that I’ve read.

A Very Nice Girl takes us into Anna’s life over the course of a year. Anna is struggling to find her feet living in London, whilst working hard to develop her fledgling singing career as a grad student at a prestigious conservatory. It is through one of her singing jobs that she meets Max, a man 14 years her senior. Anna’s focus and ambition is great, but her career demands her full attention. The question, however, is who or what will gain her attention and focus, and what does she stand to win or lose in the process?

This book is so raw and evocative. Such is the power of Imogen Crimp’s writing that you come to feel so acutely everything that Anna herself is feeling. I felt entirely drawn into her world and her experiences, both the highs and the lows. It all felt incredibly real. Crimp’s writing is razor sharp, tender and utterly devastating in places.

I was particularly fascinated by the ways in which the different characters and operas that Anna performed were so carefully weaved in to the story. It was like holding up a mirror to her own experiences, but one that was distorted, never showing the whole picture.

This book is quite simply a stunning debut. I couldn’t get Anna out of my head whilst I was reading it and I know I won’t soon forget this book.

Crimp is clearly a talent to watch. Beautifully written, this is an astonishingly assured debut that tackles plenty of big themes with insight, empathy and wit, alongside a peek-behind-the-curtain into the intense pressure, drive and focus required of young opera singers to achieve their dream. Minor quibbles: for a character with such an extraordinary ability to log and capture her world, Anna's inability to more directly see the parallels of her own affair with that of the characters she inhabited on stage became a little stretched by the end (despite her own self-confessed inability to 'see' Max properly). Likewise the sudden shift that paves the way for the novel's denouement. Whether this was conscious nod to the more fairytale aspects of operatic storylines, or simply a way to allow this narrative fit within its self-appointed timeline is unclear and largely makes little difference - Crimp is so in control of her story I was more than happy to follow wherever she led. Recommended.

I have to admit the form of some of this book took me a while to get into. The lack of capital letters drew my attention away from the story initially but once I got used to it, there was no stopping me.
A very interesting and complicated relationship unfolds here and so much is unsaid. I always wanted to know more. I like the way it actively brings up feminism and has challenging conversations that women face within the book. It clever, razor sharp and makes you think.
Being an opera fan too, this element also interested me.

A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp is a strong debut novel about a young woman struggling with her career and relationships and how to navigate her life.

This book is tender, profound and devastating, whilst being witty, droll and unflinching. An incredibly exciting new author.