JENNI FAGAN was born in Scotland. She attended Greenwich University and won a scholarship to the Royal Holloway MFA. A Pushcart Prize nominee, she was shortlisted for the Dublin Impac, The James Tait Black, and was named one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists.
"Fierce and cleareyed...Fagan’s novel balances the oncoming climate
disaster with the human-scales stories of these characters,
focusing especially on Stella, whose feelings about her sexual
identity are refreshingly resolute...Fagan is a poet as well as a
novelist, and many of her images of this unbidden winter are shot
through with lyric beauty…Strange beauty can be found in
destruction, and Fagan is fearless and wise to allow her characters
to be as entranced by nature’s awesome power as they are terrified
of it.” —New York Times Book Review
“Fagan's keen ear for crackling dialogue… betrays a bittersweet
depth. And her imagery is sumptuous. As the cold, slow reality of
climate change creeps across the countryside, she delivers page
after crystalline page of haunting, heart-stopping lyricism…
[Fagan] captures what so much apocalyptic literature loses: the way
humans can become mute, withdrawn, and even darkly humorous in the
face of doom, rather than running around in
panic.” —NPR.org
“Chilling and thrilling.” —Dallas Morning News
“Fagan depicts the band of misfits assembled in the harbor town of
Clachan Fells with the same warmth she invested in the teenage
outcasts of her ambitious, exciting debut, The Panopticon (2013) …
The frozen landscape is as beautiful as it is menacing in Fagan's
evocative descriptions, and the vast snowstorm that closes the
novel finds Dylan, Stella, and Constance safe and warm inside…for
now. Tales of "sunlight pilgrims" from the north lyrically
reinforce the author's theme that the struggle for survival can be
joyful. More fine work from this gifted Scottish writer.”—Kirkus
(starred review)
“Gorgeous and vividly rendered, Fagan’s second novel is a
beguiling, beautiful testament to the tenacity of the human
spirit.”—Booklist
"A vivid story."—Publishers Weekly
“The Sunlight Pilgrims is a story about light and darkness, the
essential co-existence of the two, the life-force which drives us
on into the light and its transforming power even when everything
appears to be stacked against us. It is also about the spectrum of
light, the different colors which it produces and the wide range of
ways in which we can live. It is a beautiful story which itself
illuminates, and perhaps above all it illuminates the importance of
respecting difference.” —Electric Literature
“It is about what happens in between and around and in spite of
those big things: the everyday moments of life and its
machinations, the work we do to find our place in a chaotic world,
and what it means to love and be loved.” —Shelf Awareness
"[A] vivid and tender coming-of-age story set at the end of the
world."—Kirsty Logan, The Guardian
"Fagan’s vivid, poetic-prose style injects the book with energy.
She writes at the pace of thought, sentences like gunfire … She has
a poet's affection for precision and image."—Financial Times
"Fagan …explores some big ideas; namely the environment, gender and
familial structure. She addresses these themes with an infectious,
otherworldly hilarity, assembling an eccentric cast of characters
who triumphantly flout convention."—Times Literary Supplement
"Fagan received widespread acclaim for her 2012 debut The
Panopticon, and was named as one of the
prestigious Granta Best of Young British Novelists a year
later. The Sunlight Pilgrims further cements Fagan’s
reputation as a writer of skill and depth...[She] writes like
the poet that she is, with an original eye for description, a
wonderful rhythm to her prose, and some genuinely inspiring and
unusual characters. An impressive read."—Big Issue
"The Sunlight Pilgrims evokes a chillingly plausible
near-future . . . intimately imagined."—The Spectator
Praise for Jenni Fagan's The Panopticon
Named one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists
Shortlisted for The Desmond Elliott Award
Shortlisted for The James Tait Black Prize
Shortlisted for the Dundee International Book Prize
Nominated for The Pushcart Prize
“Fagan has created a feisty, brass-knuckled yet deeply vulnerable
heroine, who feels like sort of a cross between Lisbeth Salander,
Stieg Larsson’s 'Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,' and one of Irvine
Welsh’s drug-taking Scottish miscreants from 'Trainspotting' or
'Skagboys.' Her novel is by turns gritty, unnerving, exhausting,
[and] ferocious...A deeply felt and genuinely affecting novel.”
—Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
“Fagan has given us one of the most spirited heroines to cuss,
kiss, bite and generally break the nose of the English novel in
many a moon…there is no resisting the tidal rollout of Fagan’s
imagery. Her prose beats behind your eyelids, the flow of images
widening to a glittering delta whenever Anais approaches the vexed
issue of her origins…vive Jenni Fagan...whose next book just
moved into my ‘eagerly anticipated’ pile.”—Tom Shone, New York
Times Book Review
“[Fagan] grew up in what’s euphemistically called ‘the care
system,’ and she writes about these young people with a deep
sympathy for their violently disordered lives and an equally deep
appreciation of their humor and resiliency…[Fagan has a] rousing
voice, with its roundly rendered Scottish accent.”—Ron
Charles, Washington Post
"A classic coming-of-age tale."—Boston Globe
“Fagan’s style calls to mind fellow Scottish writer Anthony
Burgess, whose novel A Clockwork Orange used similar
lexicographic liberties to reinforce a theme of teenage dystopia”
—The Daily Beast
“[A] terrific portrait of a young criminal…Fagan makes this ugly
life somehow beautiful.”—Alan Cheuse, NPR
"The Panopticon [is] a terrifically gritty and vivid
debut.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer
“She’s Oliver, with a twist. Anais Hendricks, 15, and the
female protagonist of poetess Fagan’s first novel, cuts right to
the chase as she chronicles the modern British foster care system.”
—New York Post
“The Panopticon is like its protagonist: tough as old boots
and always ready with the fists, but likely to steal your heart if
you’ll just slow down and listen.”—National Post
“Fagan creates a complex and vulnerable character…[and] even
though Anais makes it hard for you to love her, you can’t help
wishing her out of her plight and cheering her upward.”
—Bust (four stars)
"The Panopticon is an exquisite first novel--Jenni Fagan has
created a dark, disturbing, yet ultimately hopeful portrait of a
young woman growing up alone in the Scottish foster care system.
To say it is haunting is an understatement--I kept wanting to
set a place for Anais at the table with the rest of my
children."—Vanessa Diffenbaugh, New York
Times bestselling author of The Language of Flowers
"Jenni Fagan has created a high-resolution portrait of a throwaway
kid. Fifteen-year-old Anais, born in a mental ward, tumbled through
the social work system, violated and violent, high on whatever,
each decision she makes is a jaunty wave as she sails past the next
point of no return. This is a contemporary tragedy of the highest
order." —Carol Anshaw, New York Times bestselling author
ofCarry the One
“In the Margaret Atwood/The Handmaid’s Tale vein—very literary
and suspenseful. I like books set in an altered reality—one that
feels familiar and yet also deeply unfamiliar, that embodies some
of the dailiness of life, and yet slowly reveals itself to be a
very different, much more sinister place.”—Gillian Flynn,
Oprah.com
"With The Panopticon, Fagan makes Foucault proud and readers
ecstastic. This is why we read. You'll begin wanting to save
Anais Hendricks but finish wondering if, and how, she's managed to
save you."— Tupelo Hassman, author of Girlchild
"Jenni Fagan is the real thing, and The Panopticon is a
real treat: maturely alive to the pains of maturing, and cleverly
amused as well as appalled by what it finds in the
world." -Andrew Motion
"Ferocious and devastating, The Panopticon sounds a
battle-cry on behalf of the abandoned, the battered, and the
betrayed. To call it a good novel is not good enough: this is an
important novel, a book with a conscience, a passionate challenge
to the powers-that-be. Jenni Fagan smashes every possible euphemism
for adolescent intimacy and adolescent violence, and she does it
with tenderness and even humour. Hats off to Jenni Fagan! I will be
recommending this book to everyone I know." -Eleanor Catton,
author of The Rehearsal
"This is a wonderful book – gripping and brilliant. Anais’s journey
will break your heart and her voice is unforgettable. Bursting with
wit, humanity and beauty as well as an unflinching portrayal of
life as a ‘cared for’ young adult, this book will not let you
go." -Kate Williams
"Best debut novel I've read this year." -Irvine Welsh
"Uncompromising and courageous...one of the most cunning and
spirited novels I’ve read for years. The story of Anais, a
fifteen-year-old girl blasting her way through the care-home system
while the system in turn blasts her away to nothing, looks on the
surface to be work of a recognizable sort, the post-Dickensian
moral realism/fabulism associated with writers like Irvine Welsh.
But Fagan’s narrative talent is really more reminiscent of early
Camus and that this novel is a debut is near unbelievable. Tough
and calm, electrifying and intent, it is an intelligent and deeply
literary novel which deals its hope and hopelessness simultaneously
with a humaneness, both urgent and timeless, rooted in real
narrative subtlety."–Ali Smith, TLS – books of the
year
"If you’re trying to find a novel to engage a determinedly
illiterate teenager, give them this one. Anais, the 15-year-old
heroine and narrator, has a rough, raw, joyous voice that leaps
right off the page and grabs you by the throat…This punkish young
philosopher is struggling with a terrible past, while battling
sinister social workers. Though this will appeal to teenagers, the
language and ideas are wholly adult, and the glorious Anais is
unforgettable." –The Times
"[A] confident and deftly wrought debut…The Panopticon is an
example of what Martin Amis has called the “voice novel”, the
success of which depends on the convincing portrayal of an
idiosyncratic narrator. In this Fagan excels…Her voice is
compellingly realised. We cheer her on as she rails against abusive
boyfriends and apathetic social workers, her defiance rendered in a
rich Midlothian brogue." –Financial Times
"The most assured and intriguing first novel by a Scottish writer
that I have read in a decade, a book which is lithely and
poetically written, politically and morally brave and simply
unforgettable…Anais’s voice is an intricate blend of the demotic
and the hauntingly lyrical…There are moments which are genuinely
distressing to read, which return the reader to a painful sense of
how mindlessly and unspeakable cruel people can be. But it is
marbled with cynical, smart comedy…Fagan is exceptionally skilful
with bathos, a notoriously difficult literary register; here,
however, it manages to be funny and heart-breakingly tender at the
same time…Naturalistic and pleasingly oblique. Life, as Stevenson
said, is “infinite, illogical, abrupt and poignant”. To render this
novelistically is a rare achievement…The Panopticon appeals to
writers since in some ways the novelist is the prison’s
arch-overseer, able to look into the minds of the characters. But
that comes with a duty: to keep your eyes open even when you’d
rather shut them. Fagan is gloriously open-eyed about immaturity,
maturity, sexuality, crime, dispossession and more. Her ability to
capture the cross-currents of language, the impersonations of
consciousness, is admirable…As a debut, The
Panopticon does everything it should. It announces a major new
star in the firmament." –Stuart Kelly, Scotsman
"[The narrator] is engagingly drawn by Fagan, who has created a
character possessed of intellectual curiosity and individual
quirks…Written with great verve…Fagan has a clear voice, an
unflinching feel for the complexity of the teenage mindset, and an
awareness of the burden we impose on children…What’s intriguing
here – particularly in a Scottish fiction landscape that can
display too much of the plodding everyday – is her effort to lift
the story of teen misadventure into a heightened realm of
intellectual aspiration and quasi-sci-fi notions of sinister social
change." –Scotland on Sunday
"What Fagan depicts in her debut novel, The Panopticon, is a
society in which people don't just fall through the net – there is
no net…Fagan is writing about important stuff: the losers, the
lonely, most of them women. [Anais] maintains a cool, smart,
pretty, witty and wise persona." –Guardian
"Reminiscent of Girl, Interrupted…The novel is as bold,
shocking and intelligent as its central character…The institutional
details (magnolia walls, screwed-down chairs) anchor The
Panopticon in realism, giving it a greater bite. Much of
Anais’ life is the stuff of tabloid shock stories and The
Panopticon’s strength lies in giving you an insight into the
lonely, damaged girl behind the headlines…This week’s winner."
–Stylist
"An indictment of the care system, this dazzling and distinctive
novel has at its heart an unstoppable heroine…Fagan’s prose is
fierce, funny and brilliant at capturing her heroine’s sparky
smartness and vulnerability…Emotionally explosive."–Marie
Claire
"Fagan's writing is taut and controlled and the dialogue crackles."
–The Herald
This is the best debut I’ve read this year...and all because of the
character of Anais, who is one of the best narrators I have ever
come across. An essential read."–Living North
“Anais’s story is one of abandonment, loss, and redemption, well
suited for a paranoid age in which society finds itself constantly
under the microscope.” –Publishers Weekly
“Dark and disturbing but also exciting and moving, thanks to a
memorable heroine and vividly atmospheric prose…Fagan [paints] her
battered characters’ fierce loyalty to each other with such
conviction and surprising tenderness.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Told in Anais’ raw voice, Fagan’s novel peers into the world
inhabited by forgotten children, and, in Anais, gives us a
heartbreakingly intelligent and sensitive heroine wrapped in an
impossibly impenetrable exterior. Readers won’t be able to tear
themselves away from this transcendent
debut.” –Booklist(starred review)
"Anais's ongoing internal dialog, her periodic reimagining of her
life and situation, is enthralling...James Kelman's How Late
It Was, How Late meets Ken Kesey'sOne Flew over the Cuckoo's
Nest. Not to be missed." –Library Journal (starred
review)
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