The year is eighteen hundred & thirty one when fifteen-year-old Mary begins the difficult task of telling her story. A scrap of a thing with a sharp tongue & hair the colour of milk Mary leads a harsh life working on her fathers farm alongside her three sisters. In the summer she is sent to work for the local vicars invalid wife where the reasons why she must record the truth of what happens to her
- & the need to record it so urgently
- are gradually revealed. Haunting distinctive voices... Marys spare simple words paint brilliant pictures in the readers mind... Nell Leyshons imaginative powers are considerable". (" Independent"). " Bronte-esque undertones.. .a disturbing statement on the social constraints faced by 19th-century women". ("FT"). "A small tour de force
- a wonderfully convincing voice & a devastating story told with great skill & economy". (Penelope Lively). "I loved it. " The Colour of Milk" is charming Bronte-esque compelling special & hard to forget. I loved Marys voice
- so inspiring & likeable. Such a hopeful book". (Marian Keyes). " Brilliant devastating & unforgettable". (Easy Living). Nell Leyshons first novel Black Dirt was long-listed for the Orange Prize & shortlisted for the Commonwealth prize. Her plays include " Comfort me with Apples" which won an Evening Standard Award & " Bedlam" which was the first play written by a woman for Shakespeares Globe. She writes for BBC Radio 3 & 4 & won the Richard Imison Award for her first radio play. Nell was born in Glastonbury & lives in Dorset."