Description
Madeleine by Stella Bech
Madeleine is everything Angela is not: charismatic, lovable, certain.
It is 1996. At sixteen, Angela wants something to happen to her – anything – instead of being told her potential while living in her own private prison. She couch hops and chainsmokes, unable to find her place in a predatory city. When she meets Madeleine, she finds what she’s longed for – someone for her; who opens up not just the city, but her whole life. Until abruptly, a betrayal destroys it all, and Angela begins to realise things were not what they seemed.
Madeleine is a story of two people who find and lose each other, and the ways love, loss and memory shape a life.
Part of the Story Machine New Fictions series.
Buy as a bundle together with The Day I Killed J. D. Salinger and Source here.
Praise for Madeleine
‘Powerful, physical, almost painful in its exploration of nostalgia and memory and the stories we tell ourselves and of ourselves. Breathless, urgent, witty, ominous, beautiful. There are so many words I could use to describe this debut, but if I had to go with one, it would simply be remarkable.’
‘Madeleine left me feeling that I’d somehow read a complete novel, subtle and powerful. Stella Bech is very talented indeed.’
‘Stella Bech captures the intensity of teenage friendships, the desire to belong and the need for otherness, and keenly observes the twists of self-delusion and moments of insight in the endless quest to know oneself.’
Amanthi Harris, author of Beautiful Place
‘Have you had a friend who was bewitching and unscrupulous, where the balance of need was unequal and afterwards you can’t be quite sure who you were and why you needed someone who become so toxic? Be warned, Stella Bech’s effortless mastery will bring that person right back. In technicolour!’
Sarah Passingham, author of Push: My Father, Polio, and Me
‘Stella Bech describes with throbbing intensity the passion and cruelty of adolescent female friendships. Shame, betrayal, loss and the struggle for identity are portrayed with such visceral truth that the hairs on my forearms prickled and my mouth went dry.’
Sally-Anne Lomas, author of Live Like Your Head’s On Fire
About Stella Bech
Book Details
Length: 56pp
Format: Paperback Original with french flaps
First published: 1st July 2021
Planet Positive Publishing
Story Machine is committed to putting the environment first. This book is printed using processes that are:
Planet Positive Printing means that our books are a little more expensive than they would otherwise be. We believe that this is a small price to pay for the future of our planet.
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