Fresh — Mark Mcnay

With the down-at-heel joie de vivre of Roddy Doyle and the wacko plottings of Irvine Welsh, Mark McNay is a bold new presence on the literary landscape.

Sean's days are of a kind. The factory. The line. The chickens. . . the chickens. And Sean's dreams of escape.

Fresh is the tale of one day in Sean O'Grady's life, the day his brother Archie gets out of jail on early release. Which would be great if Archie weren't a little loose in the head. And if Sean didn't still owe him a grand.

Sean has spent almost all of Archie's money, and Archie wants it back. Between working on the chicken line and daydreaming that he is someone else somewhere else, Sean hustles to pull together the cash. The tension escalates as Archie's behaviour becomes increasingly violent and Sean begins to fear for his life, and for the safety of his wife and daughter.

Fresh is a beautifully authentic and bitingly funny debut novel about modern life in which the intense moments of violence, drugs and hopelessness are balanced by the deep and loving heart within many of the characters.