little scratch

**Shortlisted for The Goldsmiths Prize 2021**

**Shortlisted for The Desmond Elliott Prize 2021**

**An Observer 10 Best Debut Novelists of 2021**

'An extremely perceptive depiction of power and agency.' Guardian
'Startlingly original.' VOGUE
'Extraordinary.' New Yorker

little scratch tells the story of a day in the life of an unnamed young woman. She wakes up, goes to work. She lives a life of demarcated fridge shelves and office politics; clock-watching and WhatsApp. But underneath this routine, there's something else going on: something under her skin.

Fiercely moving and defiantly inventive, little scratch is a novel about what it means to live out the trajectory of a single day - every minute, from morning to night - consumed by trauma. Along the way, ideas about sex, violence, survival and comedy intertwine. The result is a fearless and unforgettable debut work of fiction.

'Wry, funny and heartbreaking.' Sophie Mackintosh
'little scratch is a story that is urgent. It is a story that needs to be told.' Meena Kandasamy
'Reads like the cinders settling in the air after an explosion... daring and completely readable.' Colin Barrett
'little scratch is a little miracle... impossible to read it and not wish there were more books like it.' Alan Trotter
'Confident and vital... little scratch is an absolute gift.' Naoise Dolan

www.rebeccawatson.co.uk