Missy
Published on 2. July 2009
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-0-09-950155-8 (ISBN)
Description
A rowdy, exuberant, badly behaved blast of an adventure, Missy begins in 1862 with Dol McQueen, nineteen-year-old flash girl and opium user, heading for a boom town in the American West. On the way she prevents a man from hanging himself only to discover he is a murderous pimp.
When he turns up later at the saloon where she has found work with some stolen goods he wants her to hide, Dol grabs the chance to start a new life and takes off into the wilderness with the loot and all hell in pursuit. Her alcoholic mother is an added burden on the mad, epic journey: can Dol save herself, her mother and their poisonous relationship?
Like her literary predecessors, Becky Sharpe and Moll Flanders, Dol is a flawed but irresistible anti-heroine, and Missy is an astounding debut.
When he turns up later at the saloon where she has found work with some stolen goods he wants her to hide, Dol grabs the chance to start a new life and takes off into the wilderness with the loot and all hell in pursuit. Her alcoholic mother is an added burden on the mad, epic journey: can Dol save herself, her mother and their poisonous relationship?
Like her literary predecessors, Becky Sharpe and Moll Flanders, Dol is a flawed but irresistible anti-heroine, and Missy is an astounding debut.
Reviews / Votes
When a brilliant, award-winning Scottish playwright produces a first novel, you don't expect to be recommending it as a perfect beach read...Funny and exhilarating - Moll Flanders on drugs * The Times * Narrated by one of the more luminous characters in recent fiction * Guardian * A gorgeously sassy opening, it is surprising how winning, and how powerful, the voice of Dol McQueen, 19th-century American "flash-girl" actually is... Hannan has traversed the limits of history and given us a thoroughly modern woman * Independent * Hannan is comparable to no playwright working today so much as the Renaissance masters. He has a density of expression, a control of populous scenes, a sense of dramatic development and a sheer verve which few writers, living or dead, can touch * Sunday Times * An action-packed page-turner...riveting * Scotland on Sunday * Hannan mixes Mark Twain's yarn capacity with the primal qualities of Cormac McCarthy and Flannery O'Connor * Big Issue * Chris Hannan deftly mixes adventure and redemption with the gritty reality of the frontier and flips Wild West assumptions on their behind. Recommended * Ladies First * Stands with the best of contemporary historical fiction...you can practically taste the rotgut and feel the sawdust under your boots. Missy is a spectacular debut: the West has never been this wild. * http://maxdunbar.wordpress.com * Treating ourselves to sex, drugs and murder as we hang the do-not-disturb sign on the door and settle down on the comfiest sofa with playwright Chris Hanna's debut 'Missy' (due out in pb from Vintage). Who knew the Wild West could be so much fun? -- This Week We're... * Herald Magazine * Taut and credible [dialogue]...I have sat on the judging panels of two novel prizes, and I have to say that this book is far better written than many of the efforts I had to wade through. I would like to congratulate the author on a fine piece of work, and look forward to reading his next offering. -- Guy Fraser-Sampson * www.pursewarden.blogspot.com *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
215 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-950155-8 (9780099501558)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Missy is the first novel by playwright Chris Hannan. His award-winning plays include Shining Souls, The Evil Doers, Elizabeth Gordon Quinn and The Baby; and have been staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre of Scotland and Sir Peter Hall at the Old Vic. In 2001/02 he was Judith E. Wilson Visiting Fellow in Drama at the University of Cambridge. He lives in Edinburgh.