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  • Published: 26 June 2013
  • ISBN: 9780241959541
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 176
  • RRP: $27.99

The Colour of Milk




An unforgettable novel with a fierce, urgent voice, told by an illiterate farmer's daughter in the 1830s

'in this year of our lord eighteen hundred and thirty one i am reached the age of fifteen. i am not very tall and my hair is the colour of milk. my name is mary and i have learned to spell it. m. a. r. y. i want to tell you what it is that happened but i must be ware not to rush at it like heifers at the gate for if i do that i will get ahead of my self so quick that i will trip and fall and anyway you will want me to start where a person ought to. and that is at the beginning . . .'

This is the tale of Mary, a simple farm girl, sent to care for the vicar's invalid wife but who discovers wonders in words - and terrors in life.

  • Published: 26 June 2013
  • ISBN: 9780241959541
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 176
  • RRP: $27.99

Also by Nell Leyshon

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Praise for The Colour of Milk

Shocking and haunting. Read it, in one sitting

Spectator

Charming, Brontë-esque, compelling, special and hard to forget. I loved it

Marian Keyes

A small tour de force - a wonderfully convincing voice, and a devastating story told with great skill

Penelope Lively

Starts deceptively quietly, describing a life of rural hardships and limited prospects, but bit by bit, letter by letter, it reveals a world of potential that is shattered by human fallibility

Daily Telegraph

Astounding . . . one of the most compelling narrators I've ever encountered

Stylist

It is once in a blue moon that an author creates a voice quite as alive and as startling as Mary's. Leyshon deserves to be showered with awards

Sunday Express

Brilliant, devastating and unforgettable

Easy Living

Spare and beautifully crafted, compelling. Like a love letter to the power of words

Marie Claire

An astounding read. Like the best bits of Hardy's Tess of the D'Ubervilles . . . Mary is one of the most compelling narrators I've ever encountered . . . packs a powerful punch . . . a very British gem

Stylist

I loved it. Charming, Brontë-esque, compelling, special and hard to forget. I loved Mary's voice - so inspiring and likeable. Such a hopeful book

Marian Keyes

Haunting, distinctive voices. Mary's spare simple words paint brilliant pictures in the reader's mind. Leyshon's imaginative powers are considerable

Independent

Leyshon is a master of domestic suspense . . . Slender but compelling, the charm is to be found as much in its spare, evocative style as in the moving candour of its narrator

Observer