Cora Mowat is an unforgettable character. Life is harsh growing up in a deprived area of Fife, Cora responds (often impulsively) with humour and resilience. Tom Newlands really shows us how Cora tries to understand herself and events in her life, and we see her change and adapt. She has real strength of character and is insightful and very funny. Highly recommended.

It is an odd choice for a male writer to have a young girl as their primary protagonist and narrative voice, but I think it managed to work.

The first thing about the book, something I didn’t realise going in, was all the swearing. The language is not something I relished, but given the roughness of the lives described, the language was not too out of place. This is the story of Cora Mowat, a girl who lived with her mother till a freak accident meant the former had to move on to their earlier shared dreams without the other.

Nothing is happy about the book. Every smile or companionship is hard fought. Cora has a diagnosis from her school which she keeps hidden with embarrassment of being even more different from her classmates.

The relationships, fraught as they are, are quite realistic. I think people who read darker books than I usually do would better appreciate this book. I would definitely try another book by the author.

I received an ARC thanks to Netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

I really enjoyed this slice of life look at the 90s in a working class town in Fife. Enjoyed is perhaps the wrong word, as I felt it so hard to read without my own heart racing because we are confined so strictly to the limited world of a very anxious teenager. She is described as hyperactive, what we would now call ADHD, and I think Newlands did a good job of exploring the mental health aspect of this book sensitively. He handled all aspects of it sensitively, bringing to life a working class place and perspective without condescension or sensationalising the trauma. He faced the darkness, but there was love and humour throughout as well. He also incorporated Scots in a way that made the voice of our main character sound authentic, and without spoon-feeding an audience unfamiliar with the language, but keeping int comprehensible enough to those from outwith Scotland so that it was readable. A compulsive, heartrending debut,

1990s Fife, and Cora is battling with a troubled family and her own ADHD. As the book develops over the years, and various incidents occur, Cora has to struggle to find her place in life. Gritty, emotional, funny - this is a glorious and realistic portrayal of not only one girl's struggle, but of a society in flux. It is a story about finding your voice, and amidst all of the emotion and grief there is, of course, glorious Scottish humour.

An important and dazzling debut. Tom Newlands is definitely one to watch. 4 to 4.5 stars.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

Cora Mowat is a 14-year-old girl growing up in Fife, dreaming of making something of her life in the hustle and bustle of Glasgow. Living with her disabled mum, navigating her way with boys, and battling with undiagnosed ADHD, Cora is the epicentre of a novel that I dare say has all the makings of becoming a modern classic.

Oh God, I loved it I loved it I loved it!

Fresh off the back of a five star for The King's Witches I've been treated to another table-topper in the form of Only Here, Only Now. I don't give five stars lightly, but this is fully warranted. The wit, sensitivity, humour, and tenderness with which Cora's story is explored is as heartwarming as it is laugh-out-loud funny. So many parts of this ARC have been highlighted as I've gone along, and there are just as many parts that had me sobbing as they had me giggling like a teenager; the breakneck changes make it feel like a rollercoaster you don't ever want to end.

Particularly interesting for me is the exploration of Cora's ADHD. Growing up in the 90s and early 2000s I was the clever girl who needed to pay attention. Stop talking, apply yourself, concentrate more...being diagnosed at 35 was like a lightbulb moment, and reading all of the authentic little nods to Cora's experience got me on a personal level. It was refreshing to read from the perspective of a neurodivergent character that's been done in a nuanced, compassionate way.

Only Here, Only Now is an emotional, intriguing, poignant debut from an author whose name I'll be keeping an eye out for in future. A perfect debut coming of age novel, with Cora front and centre, surrounded by a vibrant cast of characters who shape her life as she grows up.

Please please make noise about this one, it is complete perfection.



Rating: ✨✨✨✨✨

14-year-old Cora Mowat is growing up in 1990s Fife, on a council estate in post-industrial Scotland, and life is not easy. It’s just her, her mum who's in a wheelchair, and her mum’s boyfriends who pass through over the years. Money is scarce, school is a challenge, and her occasional babysitter seems to enjoy making her feel small. Add to this, Cora is always restless, she gets sudden unquenchable urges to move at the worst times, she’s impulsive, and finds it hard to stay focused. Then her mum’s new boyfriend, Gunner, arrives on the scene and moves himself in, disrupting things further.

Only Here, Only Now is a vibrant and poignant coming-of-age story of navigating an already difficult adolescence with undiagnosed ADHD. Despite the difficult themes explored - poverty, prejudice, complex families and friendships, addiction, grief, and the stark sense of not belonging during formative adolescent years - there’s so much life, and even humour, to this story, through Cora’s vivid descriptions and observations of the gritty world around her, and her dynamic with some of the wide cast of characters we meet along the way.

Newlands’ writing style, in dynamic Scottish vernacular, immerses us in Cora’s world and wonderfully captures her restless mind. We see her worries and vulnerability but also her tenacity and her sense of hope. Her struggles are not enough to squash her dreams of a better life, as she dreams of escape from the claustrophobia and limitations of small-town dynamics, and eyes up the lights of Glasgow as a place where she will finally come into her own; but escape from the place we have always called home to the bright city lights isn’t always all it's cracked up to be. Her relationships with the different people around her are also beautifully explored; the unexpected warmth and connection she discovers with some people, and the way she ultimately learns to step away from people who let her down. A unique and compelling journey of self-discovery, a story of resilience and hope through hardship. I loved my time with Cora Mowat.

Set in the 1990s in the fictional town of Muircross, Scotland. The novel follows Cora Mowat, a lively and impulsive teenager who dreams of a better life

Despite the bleak setting and difficult themes, it’s a heartfelt and poignant debut.
If you enjoyed "Shuggie Bain" then this is right up your street!

Only Here, Only Now by Tom Newlands is a gritty coming of age story. A heartbreaking and poignant read.

Published 13 June 2024. I can't believe that this is a debut novel! For me, there were Shuggie Bain vibes as I read this - about 14 year Cora living in Muircross in Scotland - a fictional run-down area of Fife - with her mother who maybe confined to a wheelchair but has a very active social life. With language that makes this sound authentic, we follow Cora who is, as she describes herself, fizzy. She acts and speaks without thinking - she's always full of energy to do the wrong sort of stuff. Set in the early 1990s, Cora's 'condition' was something that wasn't really being recognised and certainly not being treated. She was just labelled as different, as trouble. The book follows her from aged 14 to aged 18 - formative years for a teenage girl, but in Cora's case, these were years without a stable hand on her shoulder. Her life was full of trying to find friendship, deal with grief and get through school, all the time longing to get away from Muircross to a better life. This novel is full of characters that make you cringe, make you laugh. But there are also the characters that you are so glad are there in Cora's corner - even if she doesn't want them to be. You follow Cora's coming of age and you feel such emotion for her at times as she tries so hard to be sensible while all the time rushing around and doing daft things. Cora will get under your skin.

The debut author – born in Scotland now living in London – has been part of a number of writer development programmes and winner of various awards including New Writing North’s “A Writing Chance”. And his mentor on that programme, David Peace, has blurbed this book as “the arrival of an urgent and unique new voice, as engaging and as startling as Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, Morvern Callar or The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and will surely be hailed as one of the great British debut novels”. And while the latter statement may I suspect prove to be a little hyperbolic there is no doubt that this is a well executed debut, with a fresh new voice in the form of the narrator Cora Mowat and with elements which relate to each the novel’s mentioned (starting with a schoolchild narrator – if a little older here, featuring a young Scottish female dealing with death, and having a neuro-diverse narrator here with undiagnosed ADHD).

For me though, and I suspect for the publishers in acquiring the book a more relevant comparison would be to another Booker winner – “Shuggie Bain” (or perhaps even more so the follow up “Young Mungo”) with a narrator growing up with an absent father in post- Thatcher-industry-closure Scotland.

The book takes place across four sections:

Muircross (a fictional notoriously run-down area of Fife) in 1994 when Cora is fourteen and living with her wheelchair bound but still socially active Mum whose latest boyfriend – the one eyed Gunner who makes a living (shop)lifting – moves into their run-dwn council house.

Abbotscraig (a larger slightly better off town – and one where Cora’s Mum had long bene waiting for an adapted council house) in 1996 – where Cor and Gunner are reluctantly (on both sides) thrown together by tragic circumstance ‘You and him–necessity brought you together and necessity never feels right.’ and where Cora grows up rapidly at her local school

Glasgow/Patrick in 1998 – where Cora moves to after walking out on both home (albeit with little choice) and school and gets a in a small supermarket while living in what is effectively a store cupboard above a burn out shop.

And a final scene back in Muircross in 1998 as Cora comes to terms with her past and her condition.

Across its 400 or so pages it features a wide range of vibrant characters who interact with Cora which will make the novel an engrossing read for many readers– although I have to confess that the voice and story here grabbed me far less than the brilliant “Shuggie Bain” perhaps I think due to having a male author writing a schoolgirl’s voice which I felt slightly, and incorrectly, distanced me from the sense of authenticity that is key to this type of novel.

It is an easy option to describe this as a female version of Shuggie Bain - but whilst I would mean that as the highest compliment, it also does Tom Newlands book a disservice. Whilst our lead character is young, living in a run down area in Scotland, and there is brilliant Scottish dialogue, to a point that is where the comparisons should end. Cora is our lead - a teenage girl living with her disabled mum, her mums new dodgy boyfriend, and trying to make sense of school, friendships and the start of romantic relationships. She is also undiagnosed with some kind of neuro-diversity - and all of this means that Cora has a lot going on in her head. But one thing is for sure - she knows she wants a better life than the one she has.
A great cast of supporting characters who both support and derail her. She really has you rooting for her, despite a lot of questionable decisions she makes along the way.
Gritty, raw and powerful. There is an awful lot to love about this novel.

What an emotional punch this delivered!

Only Here, Only Now tells the story of Cara Mowat, growing up in Fife with a disabled mother and a string of men coming in and out her life. Cora, 14 at the start of the book, is determined to make it out of her 'scheme' which is full of pee-the-beds and dafties. If that sentence doesn't make sense to you then this book may not be for you!

However, for me, the language used by Newlands is what makes this novel stand out as authentic and really brings home the life and struggles of Cara.

After tragedy strikes, she is forced to grow up and this book follows her between the ages of 14 and 18, difficult years for us all but more so for a young girl really struggling with her sense of self and identity.

I can't give away too much about how the story progresses as there is a significant incident early on in the novel however this is a definite, must-read for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group, Phoenix for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Outstanding full of dark humour
, sadness with a touch of heartbreak captures time and place to perfection.. Cora is character you will not forget in a hurry. Fans of Shuggy Bain will devour this in one setting. One of the best I've read in a while

This is a novel filled with characters who are human, imperfect and that you will fall for hard. While an honest portrayal of a chaotic life, this novel treads the balance between light and dark very well, and ultimately leaves the reader hopeful. Loved it

Wow excellent, rammed full of Scottish humour. This book will make you laugh and cry, the writing is exceptional. I really enjoyed it and relished the tale. Very visually descriptive, a gem. I honestly can't express how good this is.

A stunning debut. This was a poignant and sometimes tragic read, heartbreaking but not without humour and not without hope. Its an insightful look at real people, real lifes and the difficulties of a tough upbringing in a tough environment.

We meet Cora at fourteen, she suffers with ADHD but back then most would have just said she was a fidget, a disappointment or simply different. Such mislabelling didn't encourage anyone to speak out or ask for help.

She's learned to manage her expectations, her mams taught her how to cook instant noodles, shes friends with Jo who's twenty and has a pair of curling tongs and 17 year old Dennis from the local Co-op has agreed to go with her to the park on Friday evening. Clare Grogan was the ultimate in cool as was spraying yourself liberally with White Musk. If you grew up to the sounds of Altered Images and Deacon Blue this book is like a trip down memory lane.

The characters in this novel are heartbreakingly real as are the estates they call home. Only Here, Only Now really moved me, not because it was sad but because it was full of hope, optimism, friendship and for those that survived, living to fight another day.

1994, Fife. A blistering summer.

Cora Mowat, 14. Stuck on a council estate. Nobody understands her, but then she doesn't understand herself.

Life is changing, and not necessarily for the better...

A breathtaking debut novel. Funny and frustrating, an incredible take on growing up with undiagnosed ADHD. Cora Mowat will have a place in my heart forever.

Sad and raw at times, funny at others and even heartbreaking too this was a wonderful story about Cora's coming of age and was a brilliant depiction of life in the bleak industrial Scottish wasteland where Cora seeks a way out from the horrendous prospect of a life of slog and unremitting toil with little to look forward to.

The author makes the 90s come too life with a well depicted sense of time and place and I thoroughly enjoyed Cora's tale.

Possible spoilers


I feel Cora put me through the wringer a bit in terms of emotion.
I laughed with her, I cried for her, I was incredibly frustrated with her...
A lovely coming of age story, that tackles so many things.
Despite the grief, poverty and addiction, there's genuine warmth and love here.
Super.