Slammerkin (Virago Modern Classics) - Hardcover

What attracted me was the subtle way this girl, who feels herself to be a lost and even wicked soul, is almost tamed by her circumstances - but never quite, never really losing that restlessness, frustration and ambition which has marked her from the beginning. There's no cheating in the end, no happy neat ending, but instead a rawness which feels real and deeply satisfying. I'm sure it will be hugely enjoyed and I wish it every luck (Margaret Forster)

Strangers might remember a trip to Monmouth to see a girl hang, but who would spare a thought for the whos and hows and whys?" Mary Saunders asks herself on the way to the scaffold. Emma Donoghue has taken the scant facts of Mary's short life in the 1760 (No rags to riches tale here, but nor does the author allow the brutal circumstances of Mary's life to swamp her colourful and richly textured narrative. Mary is full of spark and cheek; her eye is sharp to the hypocrisies of privilege and religion, her sp)

That said, Emma Donoghue's gifts as a storyteller are considerable: her unsparing accounts of small and large events, a wealth of detail and a wonderfully rich and fluent language makes this a vivid and moving slice from the underbelly of 18th-century life. (Ruth Petrie, AMAZON.CO.UK REVIEW)