books

Historical
Book Club
Historical Fiction

Books like Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile

Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile

2017, Adelle Stripe

5/5

A compelling debut novel that heralds a bright new voice on the literary scene: shortlisted for the 2017 Gordon Burn Prize.Best known for her classic black comedy Rita, Sue and Bob Too, Andrea Dunbar wrote three plays before dying at a tragically young age. This new literary portrayal features a cast of real and imagined characters set against the backdrop of the infamous Buttershaw estate during the Thatcher era.A bittersweet tale of the north/south divide, it reveals how a shy teenage girl defied the circumstances into which she was born and went on to become one of her generation's greatest dramatists. Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile is a poignant piece of kitchen sink noir that tells Dunbar's compelling story in print for the very first time.Adelle Stripe's writing has been described as a 'genuine breath of fresh air'. Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile is her keenly anticipated debut novel.Praise for Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile:Observer (Books of the Year): “A beautiful period piece of 1980s Britain, as funny and sad as anything by Dunbar herself.”The Spectator: "Fizzes like two Disprin in a pint of cider. You can read it in an afternoon and should; there are too few British novels as effervescent or as relevant as this."Guardian: “Snaps and prickles and brings a talented, troubled woman to life… Dunbar’s energy and mischief bubble in the bleakness.’”New Statesman: "A vivid debut novel. Stripe’s dialogue has a natural quickness and the glimpses inside Dunbar’s head are all the more powerful for being so sparingly deployed.”Caught by the River (Book of the Month): “An elegant, loving, powerful book.”Morning Star: “The writing is fresh and impressive. She is the natural inheritor of Nell Dunn, sensibly eschewing symbolism in favour of a grubbier, jagged economy of expression. A quiet precise genius informs every page.”The Yorkshire Post: “Stitched together from letters and scripts, newspaper cuttings and fractured memory, it is an undeniably harsh, yet fair portrait of one of the UK’s most original voices.”The Herald: "A brilliant fictionalised account of Dunbar’s short but turbulent life on the broken-down Bradford estate where she lived and died."Backlisted Podcast: "It's a bloody great book."
Picture of a book: Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile

Filter by:

Cross-category suggestions

Filter by:

Filter by:

Filter by:

Filter by:

Filter by:

Filter by:

Filter by: