Don't Look Back

Lisa is 16, unmarried and pregnant by Liam who is unenthusiastic about impending fatherhood. Chick again journeys into disturbing but familiar territory to produce a novel which perfectly captures a painful dilemma.

Her command of character is masterly: Liam is utterly believable – immature, unsupportive, interested only in his peers. Lisa’s unrelentingly pessimistic future is realistically explored against a starkly deprived environment. Occasionally, dialogue is less well-tuned: at times it is self-consciously restricted, with philosophical interjections at odds with characters’ more usual vocabularies.

Chick is to be applauded for her success in stripping away the romantic mythologies surrounding the frightening reality of teenage pregnancy.