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Book Cover for: Paper Cup, Karen Campbell

Paper Cup

Karen Campbell

What if going back means you could begin again?

Rocked by a terrible accident, homeless Kelly needs to escape the city streets of Glasgow. Maybe she doesn't believe in serendipity, but a rare moment of kindness and a lost ring conspire to call her home. As Kelly vows to reunite the lost ring with its owner, she must return to the small town she fled so many years ago.

On her journey from Glasgow to the south-west tip of Scotland, Kelly encounters ancient pilgrim routes, hostile humans, hippies, book lovers and a friendly dog, as memories stir and the people she thought she'd left behind for ever move closer with every step.

Full of compassion and hope, Paper Cup is a novel about how easy it can be to fall through the cracks, and what it takes to turn around a life that has run off course.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Canongate Books
  • Publish Date: Sep 20th, 2022
  • Pages: 336
  • Language: English
  • Edition: Main - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.60in - 5.50in - 1.30in - 0.95lb
  • EAN: 9781838855093
  • Categories: World Literature - Scotland - 21st CenturyHumorous - Black HumorWomen

About the Author

Campbell, Karen: - Karen Campbell is a Scottish novelist and former police officer. She is the author of seven novels, most recently The Sound of the Hours, which was a Waterstones Scottish Book of the Month. She is a recipient of the Best New Scottish Writer Award and has led workshops for the Scottish Refugee Council, Amnesty, Moniack Mhor and Scottish PEN, among others. She has written for BBC Radio 3, Edinburgh International Book Festival and Glasgow Women's Library, and was recently Writer in Residence at Dumfries and Galloway Council. She lives in Galloway, Scotland.

@writerkcampbell karencampbell.scot

Praise for this book

Paper Cup is very special indeed. Not only is it exquisitely written - and I mean catch-your-breath exquisite - the story is so real and told with such grace and compassion... Trust me (trust me), your world will be a better place for reading this story--JOANNA CANNON
Glowing with empathy and wry intelligent wit. Let Kelly into your life. She'll change you, and you won't forget her--KIRSTIN INNES
Big-hearted and poignant, Paper Cup is a joyous read--SARA SHERIDAN
Praise for Karen Campbell: I am in awe of Karen Campbell's writing . . . Brilliant, unputdownable storytelling--MEL GIEDROYC
A true literary talent-- "Scotsman"
A literary force to be reckoned with-- "Daily Record"
Bold, gritty and fearless-- "Sunday Times on This Is Where I Am"
Generous-spirited, big-hearted-- "Daily Mail on This Is Where I Am"
Rich and thoroughly enjoyable . . . A work of considerable complexity with a powerful narrative drive. [Campbell] has the ability, rarer in fiction today than it used to be, to make you care about her characters. This is an ambitious novel, and one of rare scope and understanding--Allan Massie "Scotsman on The Sound of the Hours"
I loved it . . . The plot fairly whizzes along and Karen Campbell has a great way with images. I look forward to the next one--KATE ATKINSON on The Twilight Time
[A] poignant and harrowing read. Campbell gambles on our empathy when she shows Kelly at her worst, and she wins because she has written, without judgment or criticism, an original and memorable protagonist; one who moves through a landscape described with love and care, and whose interior voice will continue to ring in the reader's head even after the long journey's end is reached-- "Guardian"
Full of compassion and hope-- "Dumfries & Galloway Life"
Terrific-- "Galloway Gazette"
A rough romance written in rich language and a truly original, brilliant novel-- "Daily Mail"
Heartwarming-- "Cumbria Life"
[A]mbitious . . . picturesque . . . generous and often wryly comic novel: a nice variety of incident and characters, fine descriptions of street life in Glasgow and of Kelly's journey - a quest that is both physical and spiritual, offering the prospect of recovery and redemption . . . readers are surely likely to find pleasure and satisfaction in the humanity of Campbell's treatment of people who have led difficult lives-- "The Scotsman"
[A]n exquisitely written and compassionate novel of addiction, shame, hope and kindness-- "Essential Magazine"
Wonderful, empathetic, timely and moving . . . With every page I shivered with love and warmth and nostalgia-- "Bella Caledonia"