I enjoyed parts of this book but not all. I live in Scotland and go Motorhome holidays every year so I looked forward to this side of the story. I did struggle with the sisters, I didn’t find either of them particularly likeable and found there were lots of parts of their story unexplained. I found it a bit slow and a bit of a slog to finish, sorry, maybe just the way I am feeling as I lost my sister to leukaemia. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this early copy.

Sisters Sarah and Juliette head off on a campervan holiday to celebrate Juliette's birthday. For 41 year old Sarah spending time with her sister leads her to reflect on her 15 year old self in the 1990s - just before her GCSE's when her focus was on sex, alcohol and her love of her English teacher, Mr Keaveney. Her friend Nessa and then her sister are obsessed with members of the local successful boy band. Their actions and experiences have consequences which shaped and influenced their lives and the women they've grown to be.

Thanks to the publishers at NetGalley for the ARC - I'll be adding Unsworth's first novel to my tbr

Two sisters - one forty-two, one just about to turn forty - embark on a road-trip in a Hymer campervan around the Highlands of Scotland. Sarah, the eldest, is single, child-free, red-haired and bolshie; younger sister Juliette is married to Johnnie, a man Sarah finds underwhelming, and has two kids. As the trip unfolds, Juliette's strength and Sarah's vulnerabilities are revealed, as Sarah privately revisits the weeks before her GCSE exams, the consequences of an unrequited love for an older male teacher on her relationship with her sister, and how the influence of a boy-band who once dominated teenage girls' mags changed the course of their lives. A sharp, poignant and searching novel about midlife, family, female bodies and possible second chances.

I requested Slgs from Net Galley as the startling, slightly brutal title grabbed me, as did the premise. I'd also read Unsworth's Animals previously and enjoyed that wild ride. I then delayed reading it, as I thought it might be a stark, confronting read, which I really wasn't in the mood for in December. However, when I finally dived in I found it had so much heart; I shouldn't have worried about it bringing my mood down.

The general premise is a dual story between Sarah's teenage life at 15 and now in her early 40s. It explores issues of addiction, obsessions, friendship and family relationships, but not in a worthy, dour manner. There's some genuine, real funny moments. It IS also confronting, as I'd expected, but in a personal way. I saw a lot of myself in Sarah. Our lives are not quite the same, but many of her musings ran true, especially a line about being introverted until alcohol turned you extroverted.

The teenage parts were shocking yet heartbreaking. Written in the exact way 15 year old girls write, when everything means so much more at that age, meanings written into the most banal things. I also loved the relationship between Sarah and Julie, her younger sister, again presented so realistically. Their odd childhood, with a narcissist mother and emotionally (and sometime physically) absent father, is discussed but brushed off as "just" their family. Don't we all do this in, until someone confronts us with those things that probably aren't "normal"?

Sarah seems to be a living, breathing person for me, rather than a character in a book. This is the reason I gave this 5 stars. It was such a personal, relatable, emotional, and at times challenging, read for me; I loved it.

Having heard about the other books from this author this one intrigued me.
I must say it was not at all what I expected and was both reflective and interesting switching between present and the past to give an insight into the two sisters growing up.
I really enjoyed it and thought it was thought provoking. I was not sure on the post ending bit and thought it did not add anything but an overall very enjoyable book

I mean, let's be honest - the title got me with this one - how could I not resist? The first of Emma's books I've read, and I really enjoyed it! As a usual culprit of only reading crime books it was great to read something different - oh how I laughed throughout this, I bookmarked so much. I really enjoyed the flipping of times (which I don't usually love) some in the past with a slightly obsessive teenager who didn't really understand the world, or men. To the fully grown woman who...still doesn't really understand men, but certainly has a history with them. I really enjoyed reading her escapades and seeing some parallels between the main character, and well, every young woman I knew in my young adulthood. Big fan of this one!

Thank you for letting me read!

I really enjoyed this novel, although in fairness I could not be more the target audience (I'm the same age as the protagonist, also the older sister, grew up in the next town, went to the rival school, sat outside the house of the real 90s popstar a character here is based on as the characters in the book do). If you're familar with Emma Jane Unsworth's work you'll enjoy this, a really enjoyable read about two early 40s sisters coming to terms with their past. Highly recommended and thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The writing was beautiful in so many parts. Really relatable and cleverly put. However, I found the plot very very slow, and didn't feel any real emotional attachment to the characters.
Not a lot happened, and I didn't care about either sister's revelations. It was a slog to get through and took me longer than usual.

Two sisters on a fortieth birthday road trip in a temperamental camper van around Scotland. The younger, Juliette, is unhappily married, while Sarah, on the surface a successful single career woman, is contemplating whether a life that still revolves around casual sex, drugs and a lot of alcohol is the life she really wants, even though it feels like the life she deserves. The road trip narration alternates with the weeks before Sarah's GCSEs, a hard coming of age that shaped her and her relationship to her sister forever. Funny, shocking, brutally honest and visceral, Slags is a compelling if not always an easy read, with flawed but very real protagonists.

Thank you to Harper Collins UK / Harper Collins Fiction and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC to review!

3 stars!

Right from the reveal of this, the title, the premise, the cover, the whole aesthetics of it screamed for me to read it. It kicked off a little slow which I will admit but did pick up my interest more.

However, with the split of timelines, one where we see Sarah being 15 and then when she's 41, I would get invested and just so into one timeline that when it would switch I would feel somewhat disappointed in the change and my connection with the characters and story would seem to stop. I think this was the overall problem for myself and it's clearly personal preference on my part, but the writing and the story itself was enjoyable I just didn't love it as much as I hoped as I felt a sort of disconnection while reading because of the shifting around.

Sisters from school age to now.

Sarah and Juliette are going on a road trip to celebrate a milestone birthday.

This book is interspersed with teenage memories.

Took me a while to get into but enjoyable.

Emma Jane Unsworth’s Slags is a raw, hilarious, and deeply reflective dive into the lives of two sisters, Sarah and Juliette.

With flashbacks to their teenage years in the 1990s, the novel juxtaposes nostalgia with a sharp, contemporary lens, creating a story that is equal parts tender, chaotic, and entertaining.

Unsworth’s writing has the candidness of a diary, capturing the sisters’ relationship in all its messy glory.

The flashbacks are particularly effective, evoking the mood and cultural quirks of the 90s, while shedding light on how Sarah and Juliette became the women they are today.

There’s a refreshing honesty in the way their bond is portrayed: sibling love, after all, is rarely straightforward.

The humour in Slags is a standout feature.

Unsworth balances laugh-out-loud moments with heartfelt drama, making the sisters’ experiences both relatable and thoroughly enjoyable.

Whether exploring teenage mishaps, family tensions, or the complexities of adult life, the novel never loses its sense of wit.

At times, the story feels deeply personal and resonant, while at others, it takes on a curious, almost voyeuristic quality, inviting readers into the sisters’ world with vivid detail and unflinching honesty.

This mix of the familiar and the unexpected keeps the narrative engaging throughout.

For anyone who lived through the 90s - or simply loves a story that blends nostalgia with contemporary themes - Slags is a much-recommended read.

Unsworth’s ability to balance rawness and humour makes it a standout novel about family, identity, and the beautifully complicated ties that bind us.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I know every character in this book and it cut almost too close to the bone at times. It's brutal in its honestly and the portrayal of teenage years was some of the most accurate I've seen.

I love everything about this book. Firstly, the cover design needs so much praise, it so suits everything in the writing and the title was a brave but perfect choice.

A good read from a new author for me.
Thanks for the opportunity to read & review it.
Will look out for more by this author.

I struggled to connect with this book which alternates from past to present. The road trip (present time) appealed but somehow seemed a little lost and blurred with the past. The character never seemed to move on with her life, which became clearer why towards the end of the book but lacked depth. I felt that the connection with the parents was not explained properly and why did the younger (more stable -ish) sister not have a connection with the parents? I'm unclear why the main character move to London and what happened during that time. I enjoyed the end where the sisters unite, but felt that the gap in their adult lives was not fully explained.

This book covers such raw and poignant topics with a candid, sardonic and witty voice. The relationship between sisters Sarah and Juliette, bracketed by the traumas of their youth, is explored with such brutal and heartwrenching honesty.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this book, and to @emjaneunsworth for the story!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I really, really, really wanted to like this - Unsworth writes so brilliantly and with such a keen observational eye, but the subject just never quite came together for me. Shame. 3.5 for the quality of her writing and rounding it up to 4 on the stars (rather than down) because I also really, really hope other readers connect with it more than I have been able to

Although I loved the relationship between Sarah and Juliette as they reminisced about their youth, whilst travelling together, this one didn't quite hit the mark for me. As someone who grew up in the 7os, the 90s cultural references missed their mark. for me. I loved the dual timelines but found that the over-heavy use of dialogue left me a little confused at times. Having said that, I intend to go back and re-read at a later date as I am still intrigued by the premise and feel that maybe this was a book I would have left on my TBR pile until I was in the mood!

This had all the factors to be a book I could love. It's relatable, personal and thought provoking. The main character is deeply flawed yet likeable, someone will all know or are ourselves with a complicated family dynamic with her sister Juliette. Yet somehow there was just something missing for me that left me feeling disconnected from Sarah and her voice. I think the disjointed telling played a part in this. We follow two timelines of sort, with current 42 year old Sara going on a road trip with her sister, and then all flashbacks to Sarah as a fifteen year old. Every time I felt settled into one timeline we jumped to another and I just found it threw me out of the story.

I will say that Sarah is a very well developed character. As I've mentioned she's very flawed, yet is self aware enough to be humerous and self deprecating in a likeable way. Fifteen year old Sarah, from someone who has a fifteen year old, also feels very believable - with all the hormones and angst that is associated with being fifteen.

If you enjoy thought provoking very character driven books, this is a great read. Just don't expect too much plot, and a rather disjointed narrative style.

This book was surprisingly deep, it takes its time to work through so many thoughts and feelings over different timelines. I find it oddly relatable.

Sarah is woman who is on a mission in this book to confront the past it seems and she does have a roundabout way of this, but it’s clear how the past affected her into adulthood. Her sister Juliette seems to be at the root of her childhood guilt and desperation for connection, her sister feels like a foundation that Sarah leans upon whenever she feels out of sorts.

I did like this, it handles difficult topics well. I find the flow of the story a little confusing in parts but I feel like that’s because Sarah isn’t a reliable source of her own story and it feels a little disjointed. I’m rating this 3 stars as it’s definitely worth the read.