Only Here, Only Now

DEBUT Cora Mowat, 14, and her mother live in impoverished conditions in Muircross, Scotland. Readers learn that Cora has ADHD, but it’s gone undiagnosed and untreated, hindering her ability to focus. When Gunner appears, Cora assumes he is just another of her mother’s boyfriends. He seems to care about Cora and her mother, but experience tells Cora this is probably not true. When her mother is killed in a traffic accident, Gunner becomes Cora’s guardian. Their rocky relationship is not improved when Gunner meets Cora’s boyfriend, the grandson of a notorious gang leader. When Cora turns 18, she leaves for Glasgow, where she believes a new and better life awaits. She soon awakens from that dream and begins to understand herself and the harsh realities of the adult world. Newlands’s debut captures the essence of the life of a teen who’s living in a world that has not yet accepted ADHD as a medical condition. The book includes colloquial slang, which sometimes obscures meaning for U.S. readers, but the overall message of this book is clear.