Never Had It So Good

At fourteen, Stacey made a choice that would change her life forever.In 1983, on a struggling council estate in the south of England, Stacey learns early that children must find their own means of survival. Lonely, alienated and disconnected from the world around her, she falls into the orbit of the local misfit, and one catastrophic decision sends her life spiralling in a direction she never imagined.Sent away to an isolated school for disturbed girls, hidden behind the walls of an imposing country mansion, Stacey enters a world unlike any she has known. Watched over by strict nuns, she finds herself among girls carrying scars of every kind: trauma, mental health struggles, violence, neglect and the consequences of being failed by the adults around them. In these peculiar surroundings, where heartbreak sits alongside moments of irreverent humour, Stacey discovers unexpected friendships and a community of outsiders who understand what it means to be judged and discarded.Set against the backdrop of Thatcher's Britain, rising skinhead violence, racial hatred and communities written off before they have been given a chance, this darkly comic, unflinching novel explores class, trauma and the resilience of those society would rather forget. A story of survival, courage and finding hope in the most unlikely places.