Shortlisted for the Betty Trask Prize

My Name is Yip

This is violent, anarchic American history with echoes of Sebastian Barry's Days Without End, but Paddy Crewe's take is startlingly original... Yip's tale is immersive and beautiful in unexpected places. On the strength of this sensational debut, you will be hearing a lot more about Paddy Crewe.

The Times, Historical Fiction Book of the Month

Paddy Crewe's ambitious, cinematic debut novel set during Georgia's gold rush in a semi-mythic American south that recalls both Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses and Faulkner's Light in August... A rollicking, page-turning wild west adventure, populated by a cast of arresting grotesques, with luminous imagery and an unforgettable protagonist... A remarkably vivid and energetic debut novel; a consummate linguistic performance.

Recalls the first-person conjuration of Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang and the brutality and lyricism of Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses... A thrilling bildungsroman adventure, full of reversals of fortune and getaways.

Bold and impressive... This is a book with a distinct rhythm. The timbre of Yip's voice and the constant movement of characters through desolate landscapes creates an energy that seduces the reader. Crewe is an author of huge imaginative range.

My Name is Yip is so utterly itself and vivid. I haven't read anything quite like it. A mesmeric and rollicking adventure told by a narrator like no other - one who beguiles, moves, delights and also had me so worried for him, I was on the edge of my seat. Bold, thrilling, beautifully conceived and deeply atmospheric. I can't recommend it enough. Superb to the last full stop.

Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Mute but eloquent, Yip comes thrillingly into our midst to unfurl his singular and singing book of revelations. Murder, gold, lost fathers... Paddy Crewe has a 24-carat gift

Sebastian Barry, author of Days Without End

Magnificent. My Name is Yip is a sheer joy. What a voice, what a story. Yip is an incredible character, up there with Owen Meany and Holden Caulfield for sheer unforgettableness. It's a glorious novel.

Yip Tolroy may not speak, but his voice soars off the page in Paddy Crewe's terrific debut novel. Both an entertaining tale of gold, murder and the impulse for revenge, and a tender coming-of-age story amid the lawlessness of the American frontier.

Paul Howarth, author of Only Killers and Thieves

I love the compelling narrator, somehow a cross between Charles Dickens's David Copperfield and Charles Portis's Mattie Ross. And like True Grit, Yip takes us on a wild ride.

Michael Punke, author of The Revenant and Ridgeline

My Name is Yip accelerates into a wild gallop. There are pleasures (and horrors too) in this picaresque of a plot, but its real power lies in Yip's distinctive voice. From his first words he springs from the page, entirely himself and impossible to resist. An exuberant and original debut.

What a marvel this novel by Paddy Crewe is, what an unlooked-for firecracker of fury and beauty and rage and hope. My Name Is Yip is a tremendous novel, one that both harks back and burns the way forward, that is built of sentences that sing and roar.

My Name is Yip is a thrilling adventure story brim-full of humour, strangeness and charm

Ian McGuire, Booker Prize longlisted author of The North Water

A rollicking picaresque... This memorable string of adventures reads like a one-of-a-kind mash-up of Charles Dickens and Cormac McCarthy.

Paddy Crewe takes us on Yip's epic journey with meticulous skill. Told in a voice both idiosyncratic and poetic, this is a moving novel from a talented new writer.

Unforgettable: rich with imagery, distinctive and convincing

The Times ‘Best Books To Read This Summer’

Crewe has created a memorable hero - one who cannot speak, but in nonetheless an eloquent voice on the page.

Sunday Times 'Best Historical Fiction Books of 2022'

In this inventive spin on the classic western, the hero Yip is small, mute and hairless. He lives quietly in smalltown Georgia, where his feisty Mama runs the local store. Everything changes when gold is discovered nearby. Yip witnesses a murder and is forced to go on the run with his friend, Dud Carter. The classic buddy tale is revitalised by Paddy Crewe in this dazzlingly original debut.

The Times 'Best Paperbacks for March 2023'

I loved it. At times I thought I was reading Cormac McCarthy; such is the author&rsquo;s literary power and understanding of the human condition. This is a unique tale, colourfully, evocatively, wonderfully told.

A THE TIMES HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 
LONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE AUTHORS' CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD 
 
'Immersive and beautiful' The Times 
'A rollicking, page-turning wild west adventure' Guardian 
'Thrilling' New Statesman 
'I can't recommend it enough' Rachel Joyce 
'Paddy Crewe has a 24-carat gift' Sebastian Barry 
 
Yip Tolroy and his fiery Mama run the general store in Heron's Creek, Georgia. An uneventful life, until gold is discovered nearby and Yip is caught up in a bloody, grievous crime forcing him to flee. On the run, friendless and alone, he meets Dud Carter a savvy but unlikely companion. Together, they embark on a journey that thrusts them unwittingly into a world of menace and violence, of lust and revenge. And, as Yip and Dud's odyssey takes them further into the unknown - via travelling shows, escaped slaves and the greed of gold-hungry men - the pull of home only gets stronger. But what will they find there if they ever return?

Paddy Crewe

Paddy Crewe's excellent second book will be one of the best things that you read all year

Remarkable . . . Crewe’s sensitivity to the tentacles of neglect in his characters is phenomenal. Time and again he captures a deep human truth.

Crewe recounts in lavish, unhurried prose [the protagonists'] respective childhoods, their abrupt coming together, their gradual drifting apart, and the love that keeps the two connected throughout like a magnetic thread . . . There's an earnestness to the writing, yet it’s a heart scorcher just the same. Read it and indulge

This slow-burn love story is gorgeously written, with two characters you won’t forget easily

Effective and moving . . . Crewe’s prose sings

True Love is a perfect read if you’re looking for a character-driven novel with split narratives or a coming-of-age story that is both heartbreaking and uplifting, reminiscent of Sally Rooney’s work

Invokes this sense of melancholy with true deftness . . . Crewe’s unabashed desire to move his readers is to be genuinely commended . . . A full-throated, heart-on-sleeve piece of storytelling

Crewe's story is . . . one of low, heavy emotions. But it is sustained throughout by the gruff lyricism of his writing . . . And while the novel moves at a steady pace, it builds to a climactic final third

Paddy Crewe writes with a lyrical, lonely prose that’s full of the kind of tenderness which both frightens and saves us

Empathetic, honest, compelling. I’ll read anything Paddy Crewe writes.

Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry

True Love had me from its gorgeous, lyrical opening to its transcendent final pages. Paddy Crewe is an exceptionally gifted writer.

Pulls you in, holds you fast. A mesmerising tale of love and the depth of loneliness.

Claire Daverley, author of Talking at Night

Brilliant – a wonderful, powerful, urgent writer.

Such a gorgeous, tender novel, filled with profound wisdom about the chaos that lies within us and between us. Beautiful and life-affirming, it just grabbed my heart. The ending is just perfect.

Donal Ryan, author of The Queen of Dirt Island

True Love is a wonderful novel. Brilliant storytelling and exhilarating prose from Paddy Crewe had me entranced and rooting for Keely and Finn from the start. The depictions of loneliness, voicelessness and grappling with language to find connection are spot on. There are themes of painful abandonment, grief, refuge in reading and, of course, redemption through true love. A deeply moving love story that combines elements of fairy tale and gritty realism to offer a compelling exploration of young love.

Priscilla Morris, author of Black Butterflies

No doubt about it, Paddy Crewe is the real thing. Such skilful handling of love’s warring tides and such emotional depth. And prose of real visceral presence bringing to light that most delicate instrument, the human heart.

Paddy Crewe’s True Love is a piercing look at the fissure love opens in us, revealing both our deepest joys and our deepest pains.

Ingrid Persaud, author of Love After Love

Paddy Crewe brings out the longing, the fire, and the strange melancholy of love in the tale of Keely and Finn where love is ripped away, rebuilt, and found again. A love story in the truest sense told with stinging insight and moments of quiet beauty.

Scott Preston, author of The Borrowed Hills

A gorgeous, compulsive, lionhearted book which I was caught up by and rolled along with over the course of a single breathless weekend. Beautiful and clever.

A raw and beautiful novel. Paddy Crewe writes about people and places seldom seen in literary fiction, and creates an astonishing portrait of love on the margins. Lives like these are rarely handled with such tenderness and precision.

Tom Newlands, author of Only Here, Only Now

Crewe is an author of huge imaginative range.

An immersion in the need for love beyond all else

‘Empathetic, honest, compelling. I’ll read anything Paddy Crewe writes.’ Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry 
 
‘True Love had me from its gorgeous, lyrical opening to its transcendent final pages. Paddy Crewe is an exceptionally gifted writer.’ Louise Kennedy, author of Trespasses 
 
-------- 
 
What does it mean to love and be loved? 
 
It is the 1980s and Finn and Keely are growing up in the North East of England. 
 
Keely is a fighter. Even in the face of loss she strives to seek connection, but finds that she’s not always searching in the right places. 
 
Finn is quiet, sensitive, distant. He spends much of his time alone, yet deep down he wants to discover the thrill of relating to others. 
 
When the two finally meet, everything is changed. Love – with all of its attendant joys and costs – is thrust upon them, and each must decide if they will bend or break under its pressure. True Love is a story of the trials of youth, the bonds of family and friendship, and of how much we are willing to risk to have ourselves be seen.

Paddy Crewe

Praise for True Love

Paddy Crewe's excellent second book will be one of the best things that you read all year

Remarkable . . . Crewe’s sensitivity to the tentacles of neglect in his characters is phenomenal. Time and again he captures a deep human truth.

Crewe recounts in lavish, unhurried prose [the protagonists'] respective childhoods, their abrupt coming together, their gradual drifting apart, and the love that keeps the two connected throughout like a magnetic t ...

Paddy Crewe's excellent second book will be one of the best things that you read all year

Remarkable . . . Crewe’s sensitivity to the tentacles of neglect in his characters is phenomenal. Time and again he captures a deep human truth.

Crewe recounts in lavish, unhurried prose [the protagonists'] respective childhoods, their abrupt coming together, their gradual drifting apart, and the love that keeps the two connected throughout like a magnetic t ...

Paddy Crewe's excellent second book will be one of the best things that you read all year

Remarkable . . . Crewe’s sensitivity to the tentacles of neglect in his characters is phenomenal. Time and again he captures a deep human truth.

Crewe recounts in lavish, unhurried prose [the protagonists'] respective childhoods, their abrupt coming together, their gradual drifting apart, and the love that keeps the two connected throughout like a magnetic t ...

Books by Paddy Crewe

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