'Part poignant memoir of time and place. Part record of the violence, and indifference, against which most girls grow up. The Stirrings is a pleasure and a shock' Eimear McBride 'A superb, moving and disturbing memoir - haunting and unforgettable' Jonathan Coe No life exists outside the times. This is a story about one young woman coming of age, and about the place and time that shaped her: the North of England in the 1970s and 80s. About the scorching summer of 1976 - the last Catherine Taylor would spend with both her parents in their home in Sheffield. About the Yorkshire Ripper, the serial killer whose haunting presence in Catherine's childhood was matched only by the aching absence of her own father. About a country thrown into disarray by the nuclear threat and the Miners' Strike, just as Catherine's adolescent body was invaded by a debilitating illness. About 1989's 'Second Summer of Love', a time of sexual awakening for Catherine, and the unforeseen consequences that followed it. About a tragic accident, and how the insidious dangers facing women would became increasingly apparent as Catherine crossed into to adulthood.

Known for both its industrial roots and arboreal abundance, Sheffield has always been a city of two halves. From elegant parks and gardens to brutalist high-rise estates and the hinterland nightclubs of 'Centertainment', it is a city caught between the forges of the past and the melting pot of the present. Bringing together new short stories from some of the city's most celebrated writers, The Book of Sheffield traces the contours of this complex landscape from both sides of the economic dividing line. From the aspirations of young creatives, ultimately driven to leave, to the more immediate demands of refugees, scrap metal collectors, and student radicals, these stories offer ten different look-out points from which to gaze down on the ever-changing face of the 'Steel City'.

It is 1995, four years after Ukraine has declared independence. Lena Petrenko cares little about her country or her miserable life. As the daughter of a racketeer, she has seen enough violence and has shut the whole world out. With her baby doll, she lives in her bedroom and immerses herself in fairy tales, creating her own happy endings. When her father forces her to attend his cage fights, Lena finds herself caught up in the brutality when she is claimed as the winner's trophy. Her terrifying champion is nothing like the prince of her stories. He is every bit the beast and she is hardly a beauty. Lena soon learns that there is more to this stranger than his hard exterior. He has a dark history and an agenda that somehow involves her, but behind all the muscle beats a tender heart. As she begins to face her own terrible past, she finds him to be an unlikely ally, evoking everything she has buried deep inside, including her passion. As her feelings for him deepen, Lena finds herself contending once again with a violent world. Now her captor must become her saviour, at the risk of losing each other, or losing their lives.

Charming children's picture book: rhyming poem with 34 watercolor illustrations by Catherine Taylor w