Starfishing

Nicola Monaghan graduated from the University of York in 1992, and went on to teach for several years before taking a job in the City of London. A career in finance took her to New York, Paris and Chicago, before she gave it all up in 2001 to return to her home town and pursue an MA in creative writing at Nottingham Trent University. The Killing Jar, Nicola's first novel, was inspired by the lives she witnessed on the council estates where she grew up - it won a Betty Trask Award and the Author's Club First Novel Award. She is currently Fellow of the National Academy of Writing, based at UCE Birmingham, where she runs the diploma course in Creative Writing with a professional focus.

"Monaghan's second novel fizzes along with some verve, capturing the empty heart of the greed-is-good generation" Scotland on Sunday "Exciting and fluent... breathtaking in its pursuit of a game-playing relationship, and shocking in its suggestion of a moral vacuum that pulls in the major players" Independent "Monaghan - who has a background in finance - is adept at conjuring the giddy excitement and highs of life on the edge. However, the pace and claustrophobic atmosphere also serve to make this an almost unbearably tense read at times" -- Amber Pearson Daily Mail