Description

**Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022!**

A COSMOPOLITAN, BBC, STYLIST, DAILY MAIL, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING and GUARDIAN BEST BOOK PICK!

‘Astounding. Heart-breaking but hopeful, and a fresh new voice’ PANDORA SYKES
‘Moving and beautifully written’ LIBBY PAGE
‘A rare new talent’ THE GUARDIAN
‘A book that deserves to be a huge hit’ STYLIST
‘The literary equivalent of gold dust’ BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH

***

Sometimes it’s easy to fall between the cracks…

At 3.04 p.m. on a hot, sticky day in June, Bess finds out she’s pregnant.

She could tell her social worker Henry, but he’s useless.
She should tell her foster mother, Lisa, but she won’t understand.
She really ought to tell Boy, but she hasn’t spoken to him in weeks.
Bess knows more than anyone that love doesn’t come without conditions.

But this isn’t a love story…

Publisher Review

The literary equivalent of gold dust * BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH * I am so proud of my super-talented former student, Kirsty Capes. I'm so impressed with how her writing has flourished with the cracking characters and energetic prose of her fantastic debut novel * BERNARDINE EVARISTO * Moving and beautifully-written * LIBBY PAGE * Vivid, bold and beautifully observed * ABBIE GREAVES * A story of every day, that is never told * ANSTEY HARRIS * Real, raw, heart-wrenching and so wonderfully written * JESSICA RYN * Heroic and powerful, but also tender; this is such an important novel * CHARLOTTE MENDELSON * So good I'm lying in a tepid bath because my 15 minutes reading turned into 45. What a voice! * AMY BEASHEL * Elegant and empathic [...] a portrait of how it feels to be young, brazen and terrified * JESSICA MOOR * I felt this book in my gut! It's funny, it's emotional, and at times definitely heartbreaking, but Bess is a hero you can believe in * JENDELLA BENSON * It's not often that life in care is talked about, which is just one of the reasons we love this book * COSMOPOLITAN * Careless stands out, a coming-of-age novel that draw's on the author's own experience of growing up in care * DAILY MAIL * With a funny and flawed heroine, this is a book that deserves to be a huge hit * STYLIST * Bess's narration is neither bitter nor self-pitying. Rather, her pragmatism, and humour, make her a compelling protagonist * BBC *