Only Here, Only Now

by Tom Newlands

A brilliant new talent writing from lived experience makes his debut with this irresistible and original story in the vein of Young Mungo and Hang the Moon, that pierces the beautiful, brilliant, and lightning-quick mind of a teenage girl growing up with undiagnosed ADHD in working-class Scotland.

In the blazing hot summer of 1994, there’s nothing for Cora Mowat to do but hang around in empty parking lots. Stuck in her Mom’s small house and tired of her own restless mind, she’s desperate to break free of the limits of Fife but unsure of what the future holds—if it holds anything at all for a girl like her trying to find her way in the world.

After her mother invites a new man to live with them, tensions quickly rise in the cramped house. Gunner is kind but strange, too—a one-eyed shoplifter with more than a few hidden secrets. But when tragedy strikes shortly after, Cora rebels against her small-town existence in search of love, acceptance, and a path to something good. If only she can learn to navigate her grief and everything she thinks she knows about who she is and what she might be capable of, she may finally find the way forward.

In this extraordinary debut, drawn from experience but written with riotous imagination, Tom Newlands explores a teenage girl’s coming-of-age in post-industrial Scotland and what it means to yearn for a life that feels out of reach. Vibrant, lyrical and fiercely funny, Only Here, Only Now is a story of identity and family that shines with hope and resilience.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Scotland, Coming Of Age, Book Club, Grief, Adult Fiction

394 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 13, 2024

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 2 out of 5]

RECIPE FOR ONLY HERE, ONLY NOW


15 bucketfuls of brand names from the 1990s, mostly of sweeties and clothes

5 gallons of Scottish slang – sounds like a lot but it isn’t. (Trainspotting – now that’s a lot. )

Stir in three or four stock characters – the ever optimistic workingclass mum; her feisty has-a-lot-to-cope-with Cora, the daughter; the thieving one eyed but basically decent step-dad, etc

Whisk in some dreams that don’t come true and some that do bittersweetly

Add one tragedy

Namedrops of 90s bands and records sprinkled in to taste

Bake with a chippy attitude and a heartful of hope

**

There was too much Shuggie Bain and The Death of Bees about this book. Everyone rattles on about the author’s grand sparkling new voice but it sounded like a BBC Radio 4 play to me and that is not a recommendation. I'd heard this rueful comical voice a thousand times before. I know a grown man writing as a 14 (through to 18) year old girl is a tough feat of ventriloquism but I didn’t believe the voice of Cora. She was too observant, too street-poetical, too cutesyquirky -

I pulled away from him and sooked up a string of slavers and tried to stop the blubbering. My face was roasty and damp.

I loved early mornings, when the moon was still about. It was a wee wet loo-roll moon up there, hardly seeable – like a finger smear on glass. You just wanted to reach up and squeak-squeak it away with your jumper cuff like

And much else in this manner. At page 127 I couldn’t take anymore. I wished Cora well and tiptoed away.

[Liralen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh gosh, yes. Only Here, Only Now takes us to Muircross, a grotty wee town on the Firth of Forth. It's the 90s, and Cora and her mother are getting by—sure, their council house isn't properly accessible, and sure, opportunities are more or less limited to what trouble Cora can get up to, and sure, Cora dreams of bigger and better things; the lights of Abbotscraig are calling to her. But it's at least a life she knows.

Then Cora's mother brings Gunner into the picture, and Gunner moves in with them, and things are no longer so predictable—in small ways and in big.

This makes for such a beautifully classic, gritty coming-of-age story. Cora is...she's a teenager. She's stubborn and angsty and occasionally petulant; she loves her mother fiercely and hurts her mother and can't imagine life without her mother. The rest of the characters are similarly grey: Cora's mother loves her fiercely back, but she's not always sensitive; Gunner is not exactly the most law-abiding of folks, but he's also determined to try to do right by Cora; the other people who come in and out of Cora's orbit throughout the book take it in turns to support and to stumble.

It's clear from early on that this is a world Newlands knows. Muircross is fictional, but the book is steeped in local 90s slang (you don't need to understand every word to get the gist), and the low-key trouble that Cora and her cohort get up to feels very in line with, well, a post-industrial town where the jobs have dried up and new opportunities haven't taken hold yet. There's a thread of ADHD running through the story, but what interested me more was the way Cora understood places throughout the book: in Muircross, she dreams of Abbotscraig; in Abbotscraig, she dreams of Glasgow; in Glasgow, she starts to understand that no matter where you go, there you are.

I don't read all that many male authors these days, but whoever runs acquisitions at HarperVia has excellent taste, so...exceptions. If you read any interviews with Newlands, too, he has some interesting things to say about why he chose to write Only Here, Only Now from the perspective of a girl growing up in this environment. This is a debut novel, but it doesn't read like one, and I can't wait to see what's next.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

[suzannah ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

gorgeous, heartbreaking, funny, powerful. why am i not seeing this book everywhere??? an absolute masterpiece.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an emotional punch this delivered!

Only Here, Only Now tells the story of Cara Mowat, growing up in Fife with a disabled mother and a string of men coming in and out her life. Cora, 14 at the start of the book, is determined to make it out of her 'scheme' which is full of pee-the-beds and dafties. If that sentence doesn't make sense to you then this book may not be for you!

However, for me, the language used by Newlands is what makes this novel stand out as authentic and really brings home the life and struggles of Cara.

After tragedy strikes, she is forced to grow up and this book follows her between the ages of 14 and 18, difficult years for us all but more so for a young girl really struggling with her sense of self and identity.

I can't give away too much about how the story progresses as there is a significant incident early on in the novel however this is a definite, must-read for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group, Phoenix for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Fran McBookface · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's the 1990s and Cora Mowat is aching to escape from her life in the small post industrial town of Muircross. Living with her disabled mother and her dodgy boyfriend and trapped by poverty, Cora sees a bigger world for herself than the options a small Fife town can offer.

Only Here, Only Now truly is a pitch perfect novel.

Tom really captures that small town claustrophobia where everyone knows your past and thinks they can know your future, where opportunities are limited and you can feel like you’re drowning on land.

In Cora he has created such an authentic and unforgettable character. There’s a real identifiable sense of that teenage energy of pushing the boundaries, pushing back against authority and just getting to grips with who you are. As Cora comes to terms with her life and her undiagnosed ADHD you are really rooting for her to make it out.

Though often a poignant read, it's interspersed with humour, moments of joy and optimism and some wonderful relationships. As much as I loved Cora, I was also a huge fan of Gunner. He certainly doesn’t always get it right but he really tries and the care he has for Cora is plain to see.

There’s a really strong sense of nostalgia too. From the music, to the Minnie Mouse alarm clock to the rainbow drops (love!) it was all so evocative of the time.

For me too there was an extra layer to this. I grew up in Fife at the same time as Cora. I knew Muircross and shared a classroom with ‘Cora’. Tom has absolutely nailed it.

Lauded by some as a modern day classic, I can only agree. This really is an incredible read with an incredible central character that I will be thinking about for a long time.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Congratulations to Tom Newlands, the 2025 McKitterick Prize winner and ADCI Literary Prize runner-up in the Society of Authors Awards! (I was a McKitterick Prize judge this year.) My blurb: Only Here, Only Now is bursting with vitality. With her broken heart and fizzing brain, Cora Mowat vows to escape her grim Fife town. Tom Newlands’s evocation of the 1990s—and of his teenage narrator—is utterly convincing. Soaring above grief, poverty, and substance abuse, Cora’s voice is pure magic.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficult to review. Well written,Cora´s voice is perfectly captured, but my problem is that I can´t see the ADD. It´s just another story of a teen living in difficult circumstances,grappling with grief;not even a coming of age story,because it´s not well rounded.

[Emily Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant debut featuring Cora, a teenage girl with undiagnosed ADHD, growing up in 1990’s Scotland on a council estate. A strong authentic voice giving an insight into working class life and tackling themes of poverty, bereavement, widespread unemployment and crime.

Thank you Phoenix Books for sending me a free proof copy.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s difficult to put into words how this book touched me emotionally and how it hit me on such a personal level.

The book centres around Cora who is 14 and living alone with her disabled mother and as the book begins her new boyfriend is moving in with them and it’s a disruption to Cora’s life even though her mother has hopes that it’ll mean good things for them all.

Her mother and her dream of moving out of Muricross and getting a new start and hope that things will finally fall into place for them.

Cora’s teachers are often talking about perhaps being tested or having some sessions. Cora’s mind gets ‘fizzy’ and then she doesn’t seem to be able to control her actions.

As a child I was undiagnosed as ND and so many times I felt as if the writer had just perfectly captured exactly the right feelings and thoughts of not understanding how you’re supposed to be/react and what’s expected of you to be ‘normal’. It was so brilliantly done it made my chest ache.

It really covers hard hitting topics surrounding poverty, drug use and bereavement and it could’ve been all trauma, but the author places a lot of love under all of these hard hitting themes and we see people who have nothing find each other and find the place they might belong in the world with each other, which I thought was one of the greatest aspects of the novel and left me with a sense of hope in the end.

A brilliant debut novel with an expert sense of time and place which perfectly captured the struggles of living with neurodiversity with a delicate hand. I think this novel and author will go far.

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grew more and more frustrated with this the longer I read. Though Newlands' prose didn't dazzle me from the beginning, at the outset the book seemed to be a promising bildungsroman with the added element of ADHD. I'm often leery of writers who emphasize diagnoses too much in their writing, but I also think these experiences should be written about. A really good writer can do this without too much exposition. For a while, I felt that this element was included pretty subtly: Cora Mowat, the teenage protagonist, struggles at school and is generally a bit out of control, but without the jacket copy, a reader might not know what Newlands is getting at (not a bad thing, in my opinion). As the book progresses, though, this element gets more and more labored, with Cora eventually giving little lectures to other characters about her condition in a manner I found very implausible.

The bigger issue, though, was that the book just got boring. Though there are some dramatic episodes, the characters just sort of muddle along, and I found it hard to understand their motivations or behavior much of the time, especially as they often seemed poorly developed. Even Cora is somewhat opaque. And what does happen is all very by-the-book as far as novels about working class teenagers go.

I wish the book had been shorter — the length makes it hard to sustain interest — and that it had been more rigorously edited. Obviously, there's a real point of view here, and I do think it's valuable to have novels write about neurodiversity in a creative and thoughtful way. But this novel, alas, fell short.

[Ashley Mclean · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5
As a huge fan of similar themed books like Duck Feet and Shuggie Bain, I really wanted to love this book but overall it was a little flat for me.
First the positives, I loved wee Cora. As someone who grew up working class in a similar town to Muircross, I really empathised with her experiences of high school and the impact of the surrounding poverty on her high school experience - I thought both of these were dealt with very delicately. Her relationship with Gunner was special and I liked having the *big reveal* at the end of the book which explains why he remained involved in her life without any obligation too - up until that point I was finding it quite confusing!
What I liked less, and the reason for not giving a higher rating, is that the book felt like it tried to cover so many themes through so many supporting characters that just didn’t feel developed enough for me to be invested in. For example, Vicky and Jo both disappearing for a significant chunk of the book then reappearing at the end for seemingly the only purpose of allowing Cora some self reflection on her upbringing, reflections that I feel she was getting anyway. Likewise Pauline’s addiction and subsequent recovery attempts didn’t feel particularly relevant to a lot. I would’ve also liked to have read more about Kira-Louise. I felt like these themes could have been explored through less characters, giving each character more dimensions and character. Overall I still enjoyed this and look forward to reading more from Tom Newlands!

[Melanie Ball · Rating 5 out of 5]

An optimistic bildungsroman that is similar to Shuggie Bain but a whole lot less depressing. Read it in a day, so page turner too.

[Catherine Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cracking good read and even more impressive when you consider this is a first novel. The author makes you care passionately about the characters and their lives. I really didn’t want this book to end. Can we have a sequel please?

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up. A solid novel and a good way to end my year of reading. I read this because I’m a prime target for anything about poor hardscrabble life in urban places, and saying it was like “Shuggie Bain” definitely got my attention. And, I suppose, all of that is true. But it also makes it seem like this book is derivative of Douglas Stuart’s acclaimed novel, and it really is not. Although the setting is similar, Newlands’ voice is his own. His characters are distinct and his talent evident. Looking forward to reading whatever he does next.

[Leah Hosie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Following the story of a young lady from Fife, growing up in the 1990s as she faces the trials and tribulations associated with her age, her location, her socioeconomic status and a lack of acknowledgment (on a national scale) of the challenges faced by kids with ADHD.

The good: Cara, the main character, is beautifully written. She is as fully realised (by the author) as a person who does not yet fully understand themself or their place in the world can be. We as readers are allowed to share her journey through late childhood and early adulthood, and it’s a gift being able to travel this with her. The yearnings of a teenage girl I absolutely emphasised with. The mechanics and emotions linked to her experience of ADHD were incredibly insightful.

The bad: Nothing springs to mind.

In summary, read the book. It’s very reminiscent of Shuggie Bain in terms of tone and just helping the world to understand the highs and lows of one face who finds herself among many. A very good read.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A coming of age story about a girl with ADHD in Scotland. At the time in the 90’s, hyperactivity wasn’t really diagnosed or recognized in Scotland. Cora’s teenage years were very difficult and her single, wheelchair-bound mother had a hard time with Cora and her impulsivity and moodiness. After an unfortunate tragedy, Cora has to trust a little known acquaintance of her mom to help her. The Scottish words and dialect were a little challenging at times.

[Kerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very intriguing read! You had me at 'Scotland'. First book club book of the year so will save my thoughts for that

[Avah · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5-.75

Fantastic! So much life in this book that it could be a memoir, but with a perfect consistent absurdity that makes it very readable.

I loved the portrayal of ADHD here, it feels so genuine and not sugarcoated. The way the world views ADHD has changed so drastically in just the past few years, with record numbers of diagnosis and prescriptions and more open conversation. Yet the monkey's paw curls, and you have a huge demographic of people who pretend to be supportive of neurodivergent people, so long as they are neurodivergent in a neat and understandable way. You have another huge demographic of neurotypicals blaming any momentary boredom or ignorance on "ADHD" and yet have no sympathy for people who face serious financial/social/mental struggles caused by ADHD.

It showed how when someone is blamed over and over, every day, for their disability or mental disorder, the psychological toll of that leads to unpredictable self-destructive behaviors. If you're told to change every day, to stop being who you are, because everyone hates it and would like you better if you were different, can you imagine how pointless that makes life, and all in it, seem?

I went in knowing ADHD was a prominent topic in this book & I was so happy and relieved when it wasn't just high-energy fidgeting and motor-mouth dialogue. So refreshing, wonderful to see, truly done with a immense amount of care.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Possible spoilers


I feel Cora put me through the wringer a bit in terms of emotion.
I laughed with her, I cried for her, I was incredibly frustrated with her...
A lovely coming of age story, that tackles so many things.
Despite the grief, poverty and addiction, there's genuine warmth and love here.
Super.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent but not quite the top top level of Shuggie Bain, Young Mungo, Close to Home or Once in a House on Fire

[Eve · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is just straight up okay. Nothing special or amazing but also not bad.

[Katie Wilhelm · Rating 5 out of 5]

“When I was nine I did actually want to be a squirrel - racing round railings all mental, styling my tail, eating pinecones and cheeseburger gherkins off the pavement. Speed and free food and freedom. I dreamed of being small and beautiful and perfectly groomed with cool hair and cute teeth and loads of branches to sleep on. And there was fuck all wrong with that.

The shame I used to feel about things still made me angry. Shame was just a cheap badly fitting neon ski jacket with a broken zip that you had to go round wearing forever, making you a flat-chested hunchback, reminding you of the past. Reminding you of the person that other people thought you were. It felt like day by day I was finally managing to grind that shitey rusted zip down a bit at a time and that maybe soon I’d wriggle out completely. I stood up and watched my wee mate nibbling for one more minute, then I waved him bye and crossed the road. I made a game of following my own prints back over the Anderson’s gravel and went back to the music inside.”

It makes sense that Walt Disney chose to make so many of his princesses/protagonists motherless. Some people think it’s because he lost his own mother early on, others attribute it to the high instance of women dying in childbirth when many of the original tale were written. Regardless, that loss forces those protagonists to grow up fast, take chances, take risks, go on adventures, sometimes/often make really dumb decisions…but essentially chart their own path in a way they might not have been compelled to otherwise.

Only Here, Only Now is far from a fairytale. In many ways, it’s the literal polar opposite. Poverty, disability, and drug abuse factor in heavily here, and it’s eternally unclear whether Cora Mowat will ever have anything resembling a happy ending. But so much of what we see in fairytales becomes a part of her story once her mom passes away tragically and unexpectedly and she’s left in the care of her mom’s most recent boyfriend, Gunner (who has one eye and a murky backstory). Cora’s impulsivity leads her down any number of dark paths and away from a family dynamic she’s not prepared to accept, and the balance of the novel centers on the consequences of both.

I absolutely loved this story, and if you’re a die-hard Trent Dalton fan, you will, too. Tom Newlands dreams up the same sort of ragtag, found family dynamic that is so characteristic of Dalton’s novels - broken, hardened, earnest, morally gray characters who are doing their best and who remind you to take everyone’s story in stride and to respect circumstances outside your own. Cora’s story is a really powerful examination of the influence of shame on our expectations for ourselves - how what we feel we deserve diminishes when we fail to see our own value. She is profoundly affected by all of her relationships, and it was beautiful to watch her grow as a character as she learned (with a LOT of tough love) from each interaction.

Tom Newlands kept his storytelling real and honest, and I appreciated that this didn’t become a tornado of happy resolutions toward the end. What an amazing debut, and I will absolutely pick up whatever he writes next!

[MsMaddyMax · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like I read a book different to everyone else. I did not find Cora especially hyper or non-stop. I'm not very familiar with ADHD and if it wasn't explicitly stated in the story and book jacket, I don't know if I would have picked up on it. I read Cora as a troubled girl in a very difficult environment and life situation who had trouble dealing with her emotions. She felt extremely real to me. I appreciated her efforts at changing her life but also her honesty. That said, I appreciate the opportunity to learn more about ADHD and how it can present.

As an aside, the book totally brought Glasgow back to me. I love reading about all the streets I used to walk on. Love that city and love that it remains so strong in my mind!

[Mayu · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.7!!! Randomly picked this up at the library last week but so glad I did - Cora Mowat is one hell of a protagonist. She’s so beautifully full of that never ending teenage spite and rage that you feel no matter what age you are sometimes (me at 24 when my dad tells me to do the washing I was about to do) and her stubborn rage and hatred in conjunction with the love she has but is unable to express is really well reflected in the ways she talks about fife

[Hannah Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the book to be very similar tones to Jaqueline Wilson books I read when I was growing up. It is well written, although sad in parts, it really shines light on the realities of growing up in small towns. It highlights classism and the struggles people go through just to keep above water. Very funny in parts-I enjoyed it!

[Darren Lynch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting deep dive into the mind of someone with ADHD as they battle with the struggles of growing up, in addition to their own personal struggles. Heartwarming at times, heartbreaking at others, this is a well written and funny deep dive into Scottish culture in the 90s.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Definite shades of Shuggie!

[Hannah Chaussee]

DNF - I’m sure this book is great, but the Scottish slang and dialect make this very difficult for me to read.

[Creedling · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5✨

I sort of loved it, but the protagonist was deeply irritating by 3/4 of the way in and not in a loveable way.

[Fiona]

DNF at 12% because I’m just not enjoying YA books the way I used to. The audiobook is very Scottish and probably impenetrable for anyone unfamiliar with the accent (I can’t listen at more than 1.5x without losing the meaning).