We Pretty Pieces of Flesh follows three adolescent girls growing up in Doncaster in the nineties, amidst relationships, secrets and trauma. The entire book is written in Yorkshire dialect which was something I initially struggled with, despite being from Yorkshire. Sometimes this felt like too much and I would have to reread a line, but it also brought Doncaster to life, with the language adding to the vivid atmosphere created. All three characters felt very different to one another, and I loved how this switched from perspective to perspective, chronicling past and present to build a picture of a splintered friendship and the reasons for their distance.

I loved the commentary around being a working class girl in the nineties, when toxic diet culture was prevalent and talked about by everyone. When the internet wasn’t there in its current form to advise on things like sex and consent, and you had to rely on often embellished accounts from friends as reference. Their teenage lives were created so vividly that I felt their anxiety as they tried to fit in, hitting milestones too early, wanting to do what everyone else was doing and wanting be just like their coolest friend (but not realising that they all wanted to be like each other). It reminded me of high school in the best and worst possible ways, with the Yorkshire-specific references making this such a captivating and relatable novel.

Following the characters into adulthood was so emotional, as they distanced themselves from each other due to past trauma and secrets. I love a book that spans decades and this did it so brilliantly, moving around in time to build on the narrative piece by piece, fitting fragmented memories together to show the moments that left a mark. It was so beautifully done, heartbreaking in its execution, and is a book that I’ll think about for years to come.

Thank you so much to Vintage Books and NetGalley for the chance to read this early.

*I was gifted a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

Following three girls growing up in South Yorkshire in the 90s, this story follows their ups and downs as they navigate life. Sharp writing and written in the local dialect, I did struggle at times to convert to ‘plain English’, relying on vintage Coronation Street to sound out the words. One word that I didn’t get and found rather irritating was ‘ut’. I tried to visualise Vera Duckworth saying this but to no avail.

Great debut novel, very well written of the time, I’d recommend anyone struggling with the dialect to persevere.

Phenomenal! I can’t believe it is a debut

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to review

Told in an unwaveringly South Yorkshire dialect, We Pretty Pieces of Flesh is a coming-of-age story in the truest, grittiest sense. The friendship between young women is often a complex affair, and Colwill Brown captures it with an honesty that is rare to see. She translates the intensity, contradiction, and overall messiness of girlhood in a compelling and raw way.

We Pretty Pieces of Flesh captures a certain zeitgeist. Brown certainly chose a singular place and period to capture, and she does it masterfully. Exploring class, coming of age and social conformity is not an easy task, but Brown excels.

Told throughout in South Yorkshire dialect, which is rendered so sensitively that it poses no particular problems for a non-speaker to read it, this is the resonant story of three young women who become friends at secondary school. Moving backwards and forwards in time to cover both some primary school days and their later lives, their rivalries, fault lines and secrets come clear, leading eventually to a moment of truth-telling and a genuine reckoning. Imagine the intensity and ferocity and precise capturing of the love girls have for their friends in Tana French's The Secret Place, then cross it with the pop-cultural nous and the enraging revelation of personal vulnerability that you get in Eliza Clark's Penance. This is a great book—well-written, very funny, entirely engrossing, and moving—but it's also an important one, one dealing with moments in time that have either been memory-holed or not narrated in mainstream publishing from this perspective before: those '90s-'00s years when everyone thought they didn't need feminism anymore; the post-crash implosion of the high street that ruined already-decimated communities; the post-Brexit crumbling of what trust in the social fabric remained. (There are surprises here meant to rebuke London-centric readerly assumptions: Shaz, the most working-class and stereotypically "chavvy" of the three girls—promiscuous, hard-drinking, prone to scrapping on nights out—votes Remain, because she understands perfectly well that her communities are kept on life support by EU funds; Rach, the one who gets out and goes to university, is suspected to have voted Leave, to have turned credulous when faced with slogans.) Effortlessly engaging and full of soul.

I knew I liked the sound of this one and absolutely fancied it, but I don’t think I realised just how much it would blow me away. And it’s a debut?! Honestly, incredible.

The fact that it’s written in the Yorkshire dialect of Doncaster adds such a unique feel and an extra layer of authenticity. It took me a minute to fully settle into the rhythm of it, but once I did - unreal. It brings the characters and their world to life in a way standard prose just wouldn’t.

The story itself is hard hitting, raw and as gritty as they come. It’s not an easy read by any means, but it’s the kind of book that will hit home for a lot of people - myself included. I’ve never read a coming-of-age novel quite like this. It perfectly balances the stark realities of growing up in a working-class environment with moments of warmth and tenderness that catch you off guard.

The writing style is sharp, almost poetic in places, and the way the narrative shifts between the three girls adds so much depth to their individual journeys. Each perspective feels distinct, letting their voices shine while weaving together a bigger picture of girlhood, friendship and survival.

One of the things that struck me most was how vividly it captures the experience of being a working-class teenage girl in the nineties. A time when toxic diet culture was everywhere - on TV, in magazines, in casual conversations, shaping how girls saw themselves before they even had a chance to figure it out for themselves. When sex and consent weren’t things you learned about properly, but instead picked up in whispered stories from friends, each one exaggerated or half-understood. The author absolutely nails that era, making the girls’ experiences feel so real and tangible. The pressure to fit in, to hit milestones too early, to be just like your coolest friend - without realising they were all trying to be like each other. It brought back memories of high school in both the best and worst ways.

This novel tackles class, societal pressures, and the messiness of teenage girlhood with such an unflinching yet tender approach that it’s impossible not to feel the weight of it. I devoured it, and I don’t think I’ll be forgetting it any time soon.

Colwill Brown’s debut novel follows three girls from Doncaster (Donny) and their friendship through adolescence, and is written entirely in Yorkshire dialect. This won't be for everyone because of this.

I am a working class Yorkshire girl so the choice of writing style was a selling point and while I admittedly grew up a decade earlier, went into this book looking for the nostalgia.

The story is set in a very specific time and place and it captures it well. It's raw, messy, and tackles difficult topics. The misogyny of this time and place in particular hit home.

Unfortunately it turns out the nostalgia of this world didn't turn out to be a pleasant trip down memory lane, it stirred up some negative emotions for me. Alongside the repetitiveness of naïve girls and bad choices (intentionally so I'm sure) for a good portion of the story it became a bit of a chore to read.

Despite my negatives, if a dialect written story doesn't put you off then Brown has a distinctive voice and worth checking out.

Incredible for a debut, really memorable and relatable. The dialect may be a little difficult initially for those not from yorkshire, but I think it gets easier as you go and it's well worth sticking with.

As a South Yorkshire lass, I was really excited about this book - and it absolutely didn’t disappoint.

Firstly, I loved the writing style. It’s written in South Yorkshire dialect, which made it feel so natural and immersive for me. Not sure how it reads for people who aren’t familiar with the vernacular, but I personally eased into it straight away. The writing itself was fast-paced and descriptive, and I loved how the perspective changed depending on the character - first person for Rach, second for Shaz, third for Kel. It made each character feel so distinct and really shaped how you connected with them.

This book beautifully captured what it was like growing up in South Yorkshire in the early 2000s - the social rules of “big school,” the feeling of trying to fit in just to survive, the buzz of town centres and music venues, and that slow decline of the city centre. It felt like stepping back in time.

The story itself was intense, raw, and completely unfiltered. It didn’t romanticize girlhood - it showed it exactly as it is: messy, scrappy, sometimes brutal, but also full of deep, complicated friendships. It tackled class, societal pressures, and hard-hitting topics in a way that stuck with me long after the last page.

I devoured this book and can’t stop thinking about it. I read the e-copy, but I’ll be buying a physical version as soon as it’s out. A fantastic novel by a really talented author.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Colwin Brown's We Pretty Pieces of Flesh is a bold and exciting debut, written in an authentic Yorkshire dialect. It centres on the lives of three local girls as they shoulder the trials of life together. It spans quite a large period in their lives and also moves to the US at one point. It was brave, honest and powerful. Can't wait to see what Colwin Brown does next. Recommended.

I reached the end of this book last night and just found myself feeling touched by the story of these three young women.

It was not an easy read by any stretch of the imagination, both because of the subject matter (please read content warnings) and the writing itself - which, my bad, I did not realise the entire book is written in Yorkshire speak/dialect. However, there is tenderness behind every "hard" action of the girls. Every secret shared, each misadventure recounted, all the countless choices that shaped their lives.
Their lives might not reflect every reader's reality, but there is something for everyone to recognise themselves in and give themselves grace.

This book is brilliant. An unputdownable account of three teenage lasses from Doncaster. Moving, brutal, funny and visceral, We Pretty Pieces of Flesh gives an unsentimental voice to these working class girls in a depressed northern town and shows us their pain, their humanity and their life force. I will be recommending this to everyone.

I’d heard such good things about this and it did not disappoint.

I don’t love books written in a particular vernacular but I can see why it was used here and it was effective. It was just tricky when you’re already reading an unedited proof with the formatting!

I was 18 in 2008 so while these girls were a little bit older than me it wasn’t by much. I could relate to so much of their young going-out experiences though mine were much, much more tame!

Of the 3 girls I found Shaz the most clearly defined and well-rounded. A few times I got myself mixed up between Kel and Rach but that might have been a me-problem!

This was beautiful depiction of young working class life. I loved it.

We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown is a bold and vibrant coming-of-age book that immerses readers in the gritty, raw world of three adolescent girls growing up in a post-industrial Yorkshire town during the 1990s. The story captures the highs and lows of their inseparable friendship—Rach, Kel, and Shaz—whose lives are filled with youthful rebellion, shared secrets, and the kind of mischief that comes with growing up in a working-class environment.

Brown's writing is steeped in a thick Yorkshire dialect, giving the characters and their world an authenticity and charm that bring the story to life. The girls navigate everything from first kisses to sneaking alcohol into school, to supporting one another through pregnancy scares, embodying the toughness and tenderness of their friendship. However, as they grow older and their paths diverge, a long-buried secret threatens to shatter the bond they share.

The book's portrayal of girlhood is unapologetically honest, confronting the difficult and often uncomfortable truths of growing up in a town that many would overlook. We Pretty Pieces of Flesh is as much about friendship as it is about survival, offering a fierce and tender exploration of loyalty, loss, and the complexities of growing up. Like Trainspotting and Shuggie Bain, Brown brings the lives of her characters into sharp focus, giving voice to a place and people too often forgotten. A unique and captivating read, it’s impossible not to get swept up in the raw energy of the story.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

We Pretty Pieces of Flesh has easily become one of my favourite reads of the year. I really liked the way this book was written as if the narrator was speaking in a Yorkshire dialect which was strange at first but didn't take long to get used to. I enjoyed how the reader got to see how the characters navigated their teenage years, learning about different topics and trying to fit in along the way. I also liked how each chapter changed perspective between Shaz, Rach and Kel at different points in their lives. The chapters themselves are very long but that doesn't stop me rating it 5*. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book from start to finish and will definitely be checking out more of Colwill Brown's work in the future!

What an absolutely INCREDIBLE debut - I can't believe this is a first novel. Telling the story of three girls from Doncaster in their own dialect, this is a coming-of-age par excellence, full of wonderful characters and heartbreaking details. The dialect means it will not be for every reader - and may be difficult to adjust to at first - but it is extremely rewarding as you are completely immersed in the characters' world. I am so glad I requested this, I will be recommending it widely and hope it wins awards. The best 2025 title I have read so far. Can't wait to read more from Colwill Brown!

This book tore at old wounds.

I grew up in "Wakey" Wakefield, not "Donny" Doncaster, which is the setting of We Pretty Pieces of Flesh, but this could easily have been my town, my school, my classmates. The book is written entirely in Yorkshire dialect, which will probably be a challenge for some, but was easily recognisable to me.

I can’t imagine how this book will be received by those not from Yorkshire, but as Trainspotting and Shuggie Bain managed to cross barriers of language and culture, perhaps this one will also.

This book felt very personal to me. I was also young in the early 2000s (the blurb says the '90s, but this is not really accurate) and I experienced all of this. Yes, the references; yes, the music. Also, yes, the tidal wave of misogyny. I remember that acutely confusing feeling of fury at being objectified, yet at the same time to be objectified was to be desired, and to be desired was better than to be rejected.

What a horrific, miserable feeling.

I remember girls starving themselves, girls bending over backwards to find that sweet spot that evades being "frigid" or a "slag", kids losing themselves in alcohol and drugs. I remember getting out, going to uni, and it being like escaping to a different world. I remember being shocked that there were people who were shocked at underage teens having sex.

This book captures all of this, a very specific time and place, and it captures it well. The characters, especially Shaz, are dazzling and memorable.

For a while I really wanted to rate this 5 stars but it did get a bit long. In the middle it became a bit of a repetitive sea of dancing, boozing and bad choices… probably intentionally so, to create the effect of a kaleidoscopic whirlwind, but I would have preferred less of it.

Still, it was really powerful, and Brown's writing in the dialect was fantastic. I could hear their voices speaking in my ear... sounded a lot like the family and friends I grew up with. I'll be looking out for this author's future work.

We Pretty Pieces of Flesh is a book that really grows on you. The combination of its literary title, the striking juxtaposition of a muted image with bold text on the cover, and the strong Yorkshire dialect of the prose all make it difficult to place at first. It takes a while to work out what’s going on and to situate the story in early-2000s Doncaster, but once you’ve got to grips with the three interchanging voices, the story really gets into your heart.

The novel follows three best friends—Rach, Shaz, and Kel—from the age of eleven to thirty, revealing their shared memories through their distinct perspectives. There are early sexual experiences, first boyfriends and wild nights out, as well as darker moments of addiction, loneliness and struggles to make ends meet. The girls’ personalities are sharply defined: Shaz is the confident troublemaker, leading the more cautious Kel and Rach astray; Kel, who dreams of being a teacher, struggles to take a firm stance on anything; and Rach is torn between wanting to be like Shaz and mistrusting her exaggerated stories. This is a story about best friends on the cusp of adulthood, enjoying their last moments of innocence before their bodies become “pretty pieces of flesh”, their paths begin to diverge and terrible secrets threaten to come between them.

We Pretty Pieces of Flesh doesn’t read like a debut. The writing is so assured and the structure is skilfully conceived, with the tension building towards a nostalgic night out in Donny after several years apart. I’d recommend it for fans of Shuggie Bain and Trainspotting, who like gritty, voice-led stories with strong sense of place. While some readers may find the dialect-heavy prose and the intertwining voices challenging to navigate, it’s right up my street, and I can’t wait to see how it will be received when it’s published in February 2025.

We Pretty Pieces of Flesh tells the story of three best friends from Doncaster, Rach and Kel and Shaz, growing up in the late 90s and early 2000s. They drink, they sneak into clubs, they fight, they make really stupid decisions – and years later, they are completely different people.

I loved the sound of this one – although I would say that the blurb is wrong, it is actually primarily set in the 2000s, not the 90s. But I didn't know it was written in Yorkshire dialect! Personally I just don't like books written in dialect, even Scottish ones I'm familiar with, so it took me a really long time to get into this. I stuck with it, though, and I'm glad I did – although I felt like skim-reading some parts and I never quite warmed to the dialect, it ended up being a thoughtful and layered read about a very complicated friendship dynamic. It's told in a non-linear structure and delves so deep into what it's like to be an insecure teenager. I think particularly anyone who went to a crap school will recognise a lot of this – it brought memories of school and being a teenager back, and made me grateful I was too uncool to do anything more than drink at my friends' houses lol.

So I would read more by this author, but maybe not anything written in dialect??

We Pretty Pieces of Flesh follows three childhood friends (Rach, Kel and Shaz) from their first days at secondary school in Doncaster, through their teenage years together and later years apart, culminating in a reunion night out when potentially explosive secrets simmer under the surface. It’s written in impressively well-rendered local dialect, and is at heart a coming of age story, depicting the ups and downs of the teenage trio, and reflecting on where those years have led them - examining the bonds of friendship and as well as the forces that can tear them apart. The book seems initially to have Rach as its central character, the slightly better-off member of the trio, but gradually shifts its focus between the three, with our sympathies shifting somewhat in the process. Rach begins seeming like a relative outsider in the school years, but ends up drifting into a life of local normality, remaining in the area as a school teacher, marrying a dubious teenage dropout and (allegedly) voting for Brexit. Kel is the quieter of the bunch in school years, but ends up studying in the US, detached from her home and finding herself struggling with relationships and a fatigue based syndrome that seems to be ME. Shaz starts out as the cockiest of the bunch, popular with the lads and developing a reputation for herself in the process. In a trajectory that seems somewhat fated throughout, she ends up skipping college and struggling through a succession of dead-end jobs in Donny. Her relationship with the others is burdened in later years by a secret that she feels she cannot tell. But she ends up feeling like the heart of the novel, and increasingly becomes the central figure in the later part of the novel. I wondered at first whether the dialect might prove a little off-putting to some readers, especially those who are unfamiliar with the almost street-by-street nuances in the pronunciation of certain words in South Yorkshire and the surrounding areas. Even as someone who grew up speaking a version of this dialect (now sadly lost, to my eternal regret) it initially took a bit of getting used to. But once you’re in, it lends the whole thing a real momentum and energy. It’s also true to life, clearly written by a local and not by someone who thinks Yorkshire dialect consists entirely of adding 't’ in front of every second word. And there’s considerable fun to be had with it for those attuned to the micro-variations in usage - whether you’re right, reyt or reet says rather a lot about your background!

At times it feels claustrophobically focused on Doncaster (in a good way), and in those teenage years the characters see a trip to the next town as something akin to a lunar voyage. But their horizons slowly broaden, notably Kel’s, although it’s with some irony that her big departure to the US ends in her being mostly housebound due to her illness. I enjoyed this section though, as it suddenly felt like we were thrown into the world of an entirely different novel, making the whole so much richer-feeling as a result. But I also loved the narrowness of focus in much of the rest of the book. I’m not truly attuned to the detail of Donny, but some of the bars and clubs were familiar, as of course is the good old Donny Dome; and more broadly it felt like the world pictured was a very familiar one from my own youth (helped along by the fact that the characters are just a few years younger than me). It is, quite correctly, a book riddled with the stench of Bacardi Breezers and various other favourite sticky alcopop concoctions of the era.

I found a lot to enjoy in this one overall. It’s an incredibly rich book: thematically, aside from its central focus on friendship, it touches on sex, sexuality, class, drugs, friendship, illness, eating disorders, abuse, post-industrial decline, and myriad other topics. It does this with a lightness of touch, as well as an emotional warmth that means it’s never an overly grim read, in spite of that foreboding subject list. Its characters are memorable and relatable, and each develop more layers as the book develops. Its depictions of teenage drama of all stripes is constantly engaging: even as it covers ground we’ve often seen in coming of age novels, it does so with a fresh energy.

Another really strong debut that I’m very happy to have stumbled across. I hope this gets the attention it deserves next year. (9/10)