A supercharged riot of a debut novel, zinging with confidence and intelligence.

Ciaran McMenamin writes brilliantly. His characters are achingly vivid and entirely credible and the pacing is Olympian. Horrifying and hilarious, Skintown is a compulsive read.

McMenamin writes with verve and honesty. . . it lures the reader into the madcap night and then delivers a hairpin twist.

Exhilarating. . . . A TNT-powered head-rush of a novel soaked in the smell of burning tyres and set to the MDMA beat of 1990s rave culture. . . . Vinny is a hugely witty companion.

I read the first page of this and was immediately hooked. It's rattlingly written, hugely immersive, funny too. Adored it.

McMenamin strikes a skilled balance between acerbic wit and the portrayal of absolute desolation. . . . In vivid colour, he brings to life one unforgettable, game-changing night out. . . . McMenamin delivers truths with the speed of flying bullets and the impact leaves you wounded. At the same time, the hilarity of the novel keeps you hurtling onward, racing to the end. This is an absolute page-turner and an impressive burst out of the traps for first-timer Ciaran McMenamin.

A cracking read.

Fizzing with energy . . . as poignant as it's funny.

Scurrilous, saucy, turbo-powered, unputdownable.

If you loved The Glorious Heresies and are looking for the next terrific Irish author, here be Ciaran McMenamin. . . . a cross between Trainspotting and Douglas Coupland, . . . sprinkled with a warm enveloping humour and compassion. It is that good.

A ribald, wise-cracking joyride through young lives lit up by clubs, drugs and ecstatic love. Skintown sings of escape, and the loyalty to music and rapture over the politics of hate.

An exuberant style which vividly captures the wildness of of the 90s rave culture.

A heartwarmingly beautiful story and an absolute joy of a novel. Five stars just doesn’t seem enough.

A poignant story of a father and daughter relationship.

A beautifully written and emotionally insightful coming-of-age tale

Segal excels at character minutiae, switching protagonists from page to page but still doing each one justice… By the end of the book, I felt I would recognise these people waking down Haverstock Hill, albeit that I might not want to stop for a chat… As a comedy of manners though, The Awkward Age is entertaining and intelligently written

Francesca Segal gets the tricky mother/teenage daughter relationship just right in her sharply observant The Awkward Age.

Segal’s writing is a joy – funny, wise, and sharply observant... Terrific

By turns tender, brutal, mordantly funny, and heartbreaking, The Awkward Age is preternaturally knowing about fractured families, and young, middle-aged, and elder love. Every sentence is gorgeously, masterfully written. I loved it as I’ve loved no other recent novel. Francesca Segal is a major novelist

A beguiling story about the oceans between family members, generations, and continents and the journeys we make to reach each other on the other side

There are moments in Francesca Segal’s novel when you are so caught up in the characters that you want to shout at them as though they are your own friends… Think rows, sulks, unexpected relationships and sweet romance all dissected with an elegantly forensic precision

Terrific, sharply observed… Segal gets the precarious mother-teenage daughter relationship spot on

Segal’s is a clever, cruel, redemptive, psychologically acute novel that made this reader glad to have been at school just too early for Facebook, selfies and an “online community” baying for news of your latest boyfriend

Thoughtful and beautifully observed

A gripping foray into second families

Thanks to its occasional moments of emotional veracity, The Awkward Age will be praised as a worthy successor to Segal’s debut

Francesca Segal is an accomplished writer. She neatly describes the clash of cultures between the academically rigorous education enjoyed by Nathan and Gwen’s freer, no-holds-barred comprehensive school. There is an engaging and colourful cast of characters… Segal vividly conveys the difficulties faced by imperfectly blended families

This is a warm, funny book dealing with a most modern matter

A brilliant, thoroughly modern family drama from the author of The Innocents

Punchy… Segal tackles her subject with humour and intelligence and a wealth of memorable characters

Exuberant and entertaining… The rest of the narrative then considers how the competing needs and duties of its four main characters can be met, handled and resolved. It does so with brio, insight and empathy, and with carefully modulated comic energy

A compelling story on the complexities that come with a very modern family that we just couldn’t put down

Love, loss, new beginnings and saying goodbye, it's all in here. A moving read

A terrific novel.

[Segal's] descriptions are spare and unerring; everyday family interactions are observed warmly and yet with precision