The Colour of Milk

The Colour of Milk is the new novel by Orange longlisted author and playwright Nell Leyshon. 
 
'this is my book and i am writing it by my own hand' 
 
The year is eighteen hundred and thirty one when fifteen-year-old Mary begins the difficult task of telling her story. A scrap of a thing with a sharp tongue and hair the colour of milk, Mary leads a harsh life working on her father's farm alongside her three sisters. In the summer she is sent to work for the local vicar's invalid wife, where the reasons why she must record the truth of what happens to her - and the need to record it so urgently - are gradually revealed. 
 
'Haunting, distinctive voices... Mary's spare simple words paint brilliant pictures in the reader's mind . . . Nell Leyshon's imaginative powers are considerable' Independent 
 
'Brontë-esque undertones . . . a disturbing statement on the social constraints faced by 19th-century women' FT 
 
'A small tour de force - a wonderfully convincing voice, and a devastating story told with great skill and economy' Penelope Lively 
 
'I loved it. The Colour of Milk is charming, Brontë-esque, compelling, special and hard to forget. I loved Mary's voice - so inspiring and likeable. Such a hopeful book' Marian Keyes 
 
'Brilliant, devastating and unforgettable' Easy Living 
 
Nell Leyshon's first novel, Black Dirt, was longlisted for the Orange Prize, and shortlisted for the Commonwealth prize. Her plays include Comfort me with Apples, which won an Evening Standard Award, and Bedlam, which was the first play written by a woman for Shakespeare's Globe. She writes for BBC Radio 3 and 4, and won the Richard Imison Award for her first radio play. Nell was born in Glastonbury and lives in Dorset.

Shocking and haunting. Read it, in one sitting

Charming, Brontë-esque, compelling, special and hard to forget. I loved it

A small tour de force - a wonderfully convincing voice, and a devastating story told with great skill

Starts deceptively quietly, describing a life of rural hardships and limited prospects, but bit by bit, letter by letter, it reveals a world of potential that is shattered by human fallibility

Astounding . . . one of the most compelling narrators I've ever encountered

It is once in a blue moon that an author creates a voice quite as alive and as startling as Mary's. Leyshon deserves to be showered with awards

Spare and beautifully crafted, compelling. Like a love letter to the power of words

An astounding read. Like the best bits of Hardy's Tess of the D'Ubervilles . . . Mary is one of the most compelling narrators I've ever encountered . . . packs a powerful punch . . . a very British gem

I loved it. Charming, Brontë-esque, compelling, special and hard to forget. I loved Mary's voice - so inspiring and likeable. Such a hopeful book

Haunting, distinctive voices. Mary's spare simple words paint brilliant pictures in the reader's mind. Leyshon's imaginative powers are considerable

Leyshon is a master of domestic suspense . . . Slender but compelling, the charm is to be found as much in its spare, evocative style as in the moving candour of its narrator

Nell Leyshon's first novel, Black Dirt, was long-listed for the Orange Prize, and shortlisted for the Commonwealth prize. Her plays include Comfort me with Apples, which won an Evening Standard Award, and Bedlam, which was the first play written by a woman for Shakespeare's Globe. She writes for BBC Radio 3 and 4, and won the Richard Imison Award for her first radio play. Nell was born in Glastonbury and lives in Dorset.

'in this year of our lord eighteen hundred and thirty one i am reached the age of fifteen. i am not very tall and my hair is the colour of milk. my name is mary and i have learned to spell it. m. a. r. y. i want to tell you what it is that happened but i must be ware not to rush at it like heifers at the gate for if i do that i will get ahead of my self so quick that i will trip and fall and anyway you will want me to start where a person ought to. and that is at the beginning . . .' 
 
This is the tale of Mary, a simple farm girl, sent to care for the vicar's invalid wife but who discovers wonders in words - and terrors in life.

Nell Leyshon

Gary is still at junior school when his father first takes him out on the rob. He proves a fast learner; still not much more than a child the first time he gets caught, and a career criminal as soon as he is out again. But Gary is also fiercely intelligent - he often knows more about the antique furniture he is stealing than the people who own it, and is confident in his ability to trick his way out of any situation, always one step ahead. But all that changes when he meets Mandy.

Nell Leyshon

Books by Nell Leyshon

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