Runner-up in Guardian Not the Booker Prize 2016
A feminist Withnail and I.
Recently graduated, young actor Maddie lives the slacker life in mid-90s Glasgow with deadbeat boyfriend Mike. Estranged from her mother due to a violent step-dad, most of the young couple's meagre resources go on drink and drugs. Maddie and some friends harbour hopes of putting on their own production of The Tempest. As she moves from one low-paid jobbing acting role to another, and from the abusive relationship with Mike to talented artist Alex, can Maddie confront the past and find a way of living in the present?
Walking the Lights perfectly evokes 90s Britain and those living on the margins, whilst others prosper. This is a compelling study of one young woman learning the life of an actor, as she explores how to live life, negotiaging the self-destructive temptations of young adulthood.
'Oh my, I love this first novel from Deborah Andrews. A story of quiet devastation, of a life half-lived, of lies told and truths uncovered. I laughed and cried in equal measures, I couldn't stop reading, yet dreaded it ending. Honest, beautiful and visceral, Andrews's prose catches your breath and snags the air around you. I can't recommend it enough.' Kate Dickie, actor
'Walking the Lights is an intensely affecting emotional journey. Searching for release in all the wrong places, Maddie's descent into terrifying darkness is as heart-breaking as her struggle back towards the light is ultimately, radiantly life-affirming.' Vicki Jarrett, author of Nothing is Heavy and The Way Out
'A beautifully and precisely rendered tale of a young woman coming to terms with her past. This finely crafted debut novel is a compelling read, both bleak and uplifting at the same time - quite an achievement.' Pippa Goldschmidt, author of The Falling Sky and The Need for Better Regulation of Outer Space
'An intoxicating debut about the lives we reach for and the mistakes that floor us. Bubbly, beautifully precarious, authentic and heartfelt, Deborah Andrews' writing glitters with empathy.' Helen Sedgwick, author of The Comet Seekers