Poor Cow : A Virago Modern Classic – 9780349020853

THE BESTSELLLING CLASSIC OF SIXTIES LONDON’Touching, truthful and fresh – a tour de force’ MARGARET DRABBLE ‘Hilarious, heartbreaking’ PARIS REVIEW’Her art is ignited by voice’ ALI SMITH, GUARDIAN’Exuberantly alive’ SUNDAY TIMESTo think when I was a kid I planned to conquer the world and if anyone saw me now they’d say, ‘She’s had a rough night, poor cow.’Joy – twenty-one, bleach-blonde, a head full of dreams – walks down Fulham Broadway in a maternity dress and high suede shoes, carrying her week-old baby. Her husband Tom is a thief and on the proceeds of a job they move to a luxury flat in Ruislip, all new lino and fitted carpets. Then Tom is sent to prison, leaving Joy to move in with Auntie Emm – and to grapple with motherhood, modelling and unreliable men.

Exuberant, earthy and tender, Poor Cow was a revelatory portrait of sixties London life. INTRODUCED BY MARGARET DRABBLE