Apples

'We got a McDonald's the night my mam got lung cancer.'

As a distraction from sleazy male admirers, spiteful classmates and her mother's cancer, Eve's eyes are opened to a multicolour life of one-night stands, drug-fuelled discos and cheap booze. She barely has time to notice the reclusive, obsessive-compulsive Adam. Adam, however, notices Eve.

Narrated alternately by Adam and Eve alongside a cast of delinquents, foetuses and butterflies, Apples is an exploration of the sickly-sweet turmoil of growing up and the hazards of getting 'fucked as quick as you can'.

First published in 2007 and reissued now by White Rabbit, Apples arrived like a meteor on the literary landscape with Milward barely out of his teenage years.

“Funny, tragic and transcendent. If you were ever a teenager, read itA retelling of Paradise Lost set on a Middlesbrough housing estate. Apples is... experimental, fearless, funny and frightening - The ObserverAn astonishing debut... Catcher in the Rye meets the Arctic Monkeys - The TimesIf this terrifyingly talented author really does have his finger on the pulse of today's youth, parents should probably just give up right now - New York TimesDazzling... I loved Apples ... If I were an adolescent, I'd read and re-read [it] until it fell apart - thebookbag.co.ukIf... Bret Easton Ellis had grown up in a North of England housing project, Less Than Zero might have looked a bit like Apples . It's one of the best books I've ever read about being young, working-class and BritishCrass, graphic, funny and unnerving... well constructed and streaming with gorgeous language, it's a frighteningly recognisable glimpse into a particular experience of adolescence - The Guardian”

Funny, tragic and transcendent. If you were ever a teenager, read it -- Lauren Laverne
A retelling of Paradise Lost set on a Middlesbrough housing estate. Apples is... experimental, fearless, funny and frightening -- Sarah Hughes The Observer
An astonishing debut . . . Catcher in the Rye meets the Arctic Monkeys -- Hannah Betts The Times
If this terrifyingly talented author really does have his finger on the pulse of today's youth, parents should probably just give up right now -- Jeff Turentine New York Times
Dazzling . . . I loved Apples . . . If I were an adolescent, I'd read and re-read [it] until it fell apart thebookbag
If Bret Easton Ellis had grown up in a North of England housing project, Less Than Zero might have looked a bit like Apples. It's one of the best books I've ever read about being young, working-class and British -- Irvine Welsh
Crass, graphic, funny and unnerving . . . well constructed and streaming with gorgeous language, it's a frighteningly recognisable glimpse into a particular experience of adolescence -- Catherine Taylor The Guardian
Richard Milward's no-holds-barred debut is the story of a boy named Adam and a girl named Eve . . . alongside chapters told by Adam and Eve are esoteric interludes where the narrator is a butterfly or an unborn baby, and each time Milward acquits himself brilliantly... Apples is an electrifying book, as frightening as it is funny, full of words that will have you running to urbandictionary.com, before cunningly using them in your own everyday speech The Times

Richard Milward was born in Middlesbrough in 1984. His cult debut Apples was published in 2007 when Richard was twenty-two years old, followed by Ten Storey Love Song in 2009 and Kimberly's Capital Punishment in 2012. Apples was shortlisted for The South Bank Show/Times Breakthrough Award 2008, Ten Storey Love Song was chosen as one of Waterstones New Voices 2009, and Kimberly's Capital Punishment was picked as Time Out Book of the Week in 2012. Both Apples and Ten Storey Love Song were adapted for the stage, winning awards at the Edinburgh Fringe.

As a distraction from sleazy male admirers, spiteful classmates and her mother's cancer, Eve's eyes are opened to a multicolour life of one-night stands, drug-fuelled discos and cheap plonk. She barely has time to notice Adam. Adam, however, notices Eve. Narrated alternately by Adam and Eve, alongside a cast of delinquents, perverts and butterflies, Apples is an exploration of the difficulties of growing up and of getting 'fucked as quick as you can'.First published in 2007, and reissued now by White Rabbit, Apples arrived like a meteor on the literary landscape with the author, Richard Milward, barely out of his teenage years. A romance, a lovesong to adolescence and a technicolour portrait of life in working class Cleveland, Apples has matured like a fine vintage; its bittersweet top notes of drug-fuelled discos and cheap plonk complemented by its protagonist's sexual frustration and his increasingly compulsive behaviour.

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