Girl, 15, Charming But Insane [Paperback]

'A funny, highly readable romp. Jess is inventive and smart and there are plenty of good, often surprising, jokes, and some neat observations' --Observer

`The novel is a delight with its cliffhanger chapter endings, incidents of nail biting tension and pacey humour. This is pink lit that girls (and boys with a copy in a plain wrapper) will love.' --Books for Keeps

"There's laughter all the way and a good old dose of romance" --Sunday Express

"With Girl, 15 we have a real star...the writing creates really enticing and endearing characterisation and brilliantly funny set pieces" -- School Librarian

`This is a hugely enjoyable and hilariously funny novel: just the ticket for summertime' Adele Geras --Guardian

'It's classic stuff ... laugh out loud funny' Carousel

Girl, 15, Charming but Insane, huge bum, massive ears, seeks - well, seeks Ben Jones, but failing that, large Muslim-type burka garment to cover her deformities. Life can be trying when your best friend is a goddess, you are a woeful underachiever, and Ben Jones won't even look in your direction. Painfully spot on, "Girl 15" reveals with Technicolor precision the agony and the ecstasy (and the embarrassment) of being a teenager. With razor-sharp observation and deadpan humour we are offered a privileged peek at the life of Jess, 15, charming, but most definitely insane. This novel has a unique voice and humour that will make you want to read it again and again - if you can bring yourself to put it down in the first place.

Sue's writing career started in London around 1980, with various assignments for magazines and newspapers, and her first radio work, BIG AND LITTLE, which won a Sony Award for Best Children's Programme. Other radio projects have included the series UP THE GARDEN PATH, THE WORDSMITHS AT GORSEMERE, and THE SIT-CROM. Various radio shows have invited sue aboard as a guest, including: STOP THE WEEK, A WORD IN EDGEWAYS, QUOTE UNQUOTE, SLIGHTLY FOXED, A GOOD READ, LOOSE ENDS and WOMAN'S HOUR. UP THE GARDEN PATH was adapted by Sue for television and three series were produced by Humphrey Barclay and Granada Television. It started off Sue's first novel, followed soon after by a sequel, LOVE'S LABOURS, in which the comprehensive school teacher Izzy gets even more comprehensively entangled. LOVE FORTY was Sue's autobiographical account of going to live in the country, the birth of her daughter (1985) and the glorious dawn of middle age. A more recent novel, SHEEP'S EYES AND HOGWASH, which one might call an unexpectedly romantic version of pastoral, is published by Heinemann. Children's Books include BIG AND LITTLE, CHINA LEE, ME JANE, BIG TROUBLE and MR LOOPY AND MRS SNOOPY. COME BACK GRANDMA is published by Random House and was shortlisted for the Smarties Prize. This is Sue's second book for Bloomsbury. She lives on a remote organic farm near Nailsworth in Gloucestershire.