Poor Cow

Joy - also called Blossom, Sunshine and Blondie by the men in her life - walks down Fulham Broadway carrying her week-old baby, Jonny. She is twenty-one, with bleached hair, high suede shoes, and a head full of dreams. Her husband Tom is a thief and on the proceeds of a job they move to a luxury flat - 'the world was our oyster and we chose Ruislip'. Then Tom is sent to prison, leaving Joy and Jonny to move in with Auntie Emm. This is Joy's story: an exuberant, pink-lipsticked, tale of London life, love and young motherhood in the sixties. . .

“Touching, truthful and fresh . . . written with an unselfconscious elegance that conceals its craft . . . A tour de force”

Her art is ignited by voice, especially by voice more usually given no societal, literary or aesthetic power or space but whose authority, as you hear it, is unquestionable -- Ali Smith Guardian
It was Nell's interest in the women of the working class that made her work truly radical Independent
Touching, truthful and fresh . . . written with an unselfconscious elegance that conceals its craft . . . A tour de force -- Margaret Drabble
Nell Dunn's hilarious, heartbreaking Poor Cow, about a single mother in sixties London Paris Review

Nell Dunn was born in 1936 and convent-educated up to the age of fourteen. Her first book of short stories, UP THE JUNCTION, was published in 1963 bringing her immediate recognition. She has three sons and lives in London and Wiltshire.

Joy - also called Blossom, Sunshine and Blondie by the men in her life - walks down Fulham Broadway carrying her week-old baby, Jonny. She is twenty-one, with bleached hair, high suede shoes, and a dead full of dreams. Her husband Tom is a thief and on the proceeds of a job they move to a luxury flat - 'the world was our oyster and we chose Ruislip'. Then Tom is sent to prison, leaving Joy and Jonny to move in with Auntie Emm. This is Joy's story: a spirited tale of London life, love and young motherhood in the sixties.

Joy - also called Blossom, Sunshine and Blondie by the men in her life - walks down Fulham Broadway carrying her week-old baby, Jonny. She is twenty-one, with bleached hair, high suede shoes, and a head full of dreams. Her husband Tom is a thief and on the proceeds of a job they move to a luxury flat - 'the world was our oyster and we chose Ruislip'. Then Tom is sent to prison, leaving Joy and Jonny to move in with Auntie Emm. This is Joy's story: an exuberant, pink-lipsticked, tale of London life, love and young motherhood in the sixties. . .

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