Andrews, Jessica: Milk Teeth

''Jessica Andrews''s first novel, Saltwater, was wonderful. The follow-up, Milk Teeth, is even better'' Alex Preston, ''Fiction To Look Out For In 2022'', Observer ''Addictive, immediate, brilliant'' Helen Mort From the author of the award-winning Saltwater comes a beautifully told love story set across Barcelona, Paris, London and the north-east of England. A girl grows up in the north of England amid scarcity, precarity and the toxic culture of heroin chic, believing that she needs to make herself smaller to claim presence in the world. Years later, as a young woman with unattainable ideals, she meets someone who calls everything into question, and is forced to confront episodes from her past. Their relationship takes her from London to Barcelona and the precipice of a new life, full of sensuality. Yet she still feels an uneasiness. In the sticky Mediterranean heat, among tropical plants and secluded beaches, she must decide what form her adult life should take and learn how to feel deserving of love and care. ''Gorgeous . . . Andrews''s writing is transportingly voluptuous, conjuring tastes and smells and sounds like her literary godmother, Edna O''Brien.'' New York Times on Saltwater