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Wild Ground

'As addictive as Normal People' - Jenna Clake

By: Emily Usher

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Paperback | 24 June 2025

At a Glance

Paperback
352 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
19.8 x 12.9 x 2.5

Paperback

RRP $24.99

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A working-class Romeo & Juliet set in the beauty and squalor of the Yorkshire edgelands

Neef has always been a storyteller and her story now, working in a caf© in London, is that her name is Jennifer. Jennifer never knew a boy called Danny, never loved him, never had him wrenched away from her. But when Neef was a teenager, and her troubled mother moved them into a flat above a pub in a working-class Yorkshire town, Danny was her whole world. Neef and Danny. Danny and Neef. Despite absent parents and small-town bigotry directed at Danny for the colour of his skin, they found solace in each other, convinced that Neef's stories and Danny's near-magic touch with plants would be their key to a different life. But as they got older, their dreams became tarnished by new distractions and new ways to forget themselves, eventually threatening to destroy them both. Fifteen years later, Neef is Jennifer and determined to stay anonymous, until someone from her past appears to remind her of who she used to be. Confronted by the memories she fled from, Neef is forced to face the decisions she's made and the person she's become. At once heart-breaking and hopeful, Wild Ground shows us an all-consuming first love as it grapples with addiction, identity and class barriers. In this tender and moving debut, Emily Usher presents an aching love story impossible to forget.

Industry Reviews

'A glittering exploration of love's many faces - Wild Ground aches with hard-won hope and bruised tenderness' - Colin Walsh, author of Kala

'Written in a fresh northern vernacular tinged with romanticism and regret, Wild Ground is an intoxicating debut from a compelling new voice' - Adelle Stripe, author of Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile

'Wild Ground is a heart-breaking tale of love and loss, and as addictive as Normal People. But, more than that: a thought-provoking examination of how Whiteness pervades and causes harm, how our histories haunt us, and how dreams grow and wither. A propulsive, gut-wrenching read' - Jenna Clake, author of Disturbance

'It's incredible and I couldn't put it down ... Emily Usher's writing is extraordinary' - Carmen Marcus, author of How Saints Die

'Emily Usher is a wonderfully restrained and unfailingly compassionate storyteller, and she has written a deep and all-around beautiful debut novel. Wild Ground is a love story that captures the realities of being young and oppressed - yet hopeful and searching. It is honest and so touching as to be heartbreaking' - Beth Raymer, author of Fireworks Every Night

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