The Ice Age [Paperback]

`I was totally entranced by this amazing debut novel. I love the way it lurches from sexy to utterly horrifying in an eye-blink. The narrator is both precocious and naïve, clever and stupid and just absolutely, perfectly charming. This is one of the most beautiful and brutal and brilliant portrayals of teenage girlhood I have ever read. It's unflinchingly honest, heartbreakingly romantic, strange and totally captivating.' --Florence Welch, FLORENCE + THE MACHINE

`A completely hypnotic road trip . . . You should buy this book immediately.'
--Dazed & Confused

`Sometimes a book comes along that seems so far up the Dazed readership's alley that it would be churlish not to make it Book Of The Month. 36-year-old Kirsten's Reeds debut novel is one such book; a supremely cool, completely hypnotic American road trip that we enjoyed so much that we haven't been able to stop going on about it for weeks . . . [The Ice Age] is relayed in the pitch-perfect vernacular of a bright and troubled American small-town teen . . . it's not so much a tale of innocence lost as a tale of innocence buggered into a black hole forever, but Reed has crafted it all into a funny and shocking and spookily moving story of coming-of-age in contemporary America. The Ice Age has definitely been the book of our month. You should go out and buy it immediately and make it yours.'
--Book of the Month, Dazed & Confused

`[an] utterly compelling novel . . . The voice of the girl is fresh, spiky and wonderfully imagined.'
--The Times

'Reed does a brilliant job with The Ice Age, detailing compellingly and candidly her main character's life-changing experiences as she travels from town to town encountering a whole host of messed-up characters. As a result it's a gripping, gritty, occasionally uncomfortable and yet strangely romantic read, as we discover more about our fearless narrator and her changing view of the world.' --The List

'There's a lot of promise in `The Ice Age' and, while it's bound to resonate more with readers of a similar age to the narrator, Reed proves she's a talent to keep an eye on.' --Time Out

'Florence (of `The Machine' fame) loves Kirsten Reed's The Ice Age. Who are we to argue?'
--Stylist

'Very occasionally a debut novel comes along that is fresh and exciting, full of energy and originality, which manages to be both shocking and deeply felt. The Ice Age is one such rare example. No wonder it's already been lauded by teams of hipsters, including singer Florence Welch, who provides an insightful jacket quote. Yet, The Ice Age's appeal and resonance will go far wider than any youth cult. Indeed, what the author's done is no less that reinvigorate that classic rites-of-passage staple, the road trip. But it's not just Jack Kerouac's One The Road that Kirsten Reed has drawn from. She's also delved into adolescent angst á la The Catcher In The Rye and more than dipped her toes into the shocking, sexualised small-town terrain of Nabokov's Lolita. It's a heady brew all right, and you take on such big guns at your peril. But Reed has pulled it off triumphantly... for those who care about intelligent, stylish narratives you are in for one hell of a ride.' --Book of the Week, Daily Mirror

'More impressive is the assurance with which Reed puts words into her 17-year-old narrator's mouth, creating a sympathetic character who is sassy without being irritating, and insightful while remaining convincingly adolescent... at its best Reed's coming-of-age tale is as sharp as one of Gunther's fangs.' --Financial Times

'Tight and comic, this manages to be both fiercely unsentimental and intensely romantic.'
--Guardian

'The narrator is a volatile mix of precocity and naivety, charmingly but perilously unaware of her own allure to the opposite sex. Along the way, she learns some very adult lessons, but it's the enduring tendency of her odd relationship with Gunther that keeps the pages turning.'
--Daily Mail

'The Ice Age is based partially on the author's own teenage diaries recording a smiliar trip, and Reed's tone, for the most part unslipping, is the beating heart to the novel. The narrator's voice carries the story with grace and cool, even when vulnerable and uncertain, and her adolescent honesty means she loves more wholeheartedly than any of the adults in her book.' --TLS

'We knew there was something pretty special about the debut novel from Kirsten Reed...The narrator has one of the most refreshing and realistic voices we've heard for ages.' --Sugarscape.com

'...it's the narrator's ironic commentaries on her hair-raising experiences that enchant on this road trip and make it an irresistible journey.' --WBQ

Featured in Grazia's 'Secretly Addicted to...' slot
--Grazia

'WE LEFT A TIP AND THE WAITRESS SHOT US WHAT I SUPPOSE WAS INTENDED TO BE A LOOK OF GRATITUDE. SHE REALLY ONLY MANAGED A WEAK GLARE. I GUESS THAT'S THE COUNTRYSIDE FOR YOU. PEOPLE ARE A LITTLE EDGY.' A young inquisitive girl hitches a lift with an older charismatic Bohemian man. Neither has a final destination in mind, and so they find themselves drifting aimlessly through middle America; driving, smoking, sharing confidences, looking out for each other, and stopping as and when the mood takes them. Their relationship is pure, simple -- and when they do finally have sex, it's she who makes the first move. But this is a strange, stolen time that must come to an end: the girl will grow up; the man’s past will catch up with him; and the world outside will not accept their relationship. With shades of Lolita and Morvern Callar, The Ice Age is a remarkable first novel, with an exceptional voice that's both seductive and compelling, and which readers will quite simply fall in love with.