Cold Light

Jenn Ashworth was born in 1982 in Preston. She studied English at Cambridge and since then has gained an MA from Manchester University, trained as a librarian and run a prison library in Lancashire. She now lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Lancaster. Her first novel, A Kind of Intimacy, was published in 2009 and won a Betty Trask Award. In 2011 her second, Cold Light, was published by Sceptre and she was chosen by BBC's The Culture Show as one of the twelve Best New British Novelists. In 2013 her third novel, The Friday Gospels, was published to resounding critical acclaim. She lives in Lancaster with her husband, son and daughter.

I’m sitting on my couch, watching the local news. There’s Chloe’s parents, the mayor, the hangers on, all grouped round the pond for the ceremony. It’s ten years since Chloe and Carl drowned. You can tell from their faces that something has gone wrong. But I’m the one who knows straightaway that the mayor has found a body. And I know who it is.
Jenn Ashworth’s gripping and unforgettable Cold Light is the story of a friendship unsettling in its intensity and of one terrible summer when lies, secrets, jealousy, and perversion result in tragedy more twisted and evil than one unsuspecting community can handle. A dark tale with a surreal edge, it follows two fourteen-year-old girls, best friends, as they confront the dangers of a predatory adult world, where truth is cruelly sacrificed in the name of innocence.

“Evokes a damaged mind with the empathy and confidence of Ruth Rendell.” — The Times (London)
“Hugely readable debut novel […] about the inability to know others and ourselves.” — The Independent
“Extremely intense and powerfully intriguing.” — Waterstone's
‘Ashworth has the rare gift of being able to make her reader feel perverse and voyeuristic, implicated somehow in the tragedy laid out on the pages.’ — Sunday Times (London)
A grimly atmospheric mystery. — Sunday Express (London)
A psychological thriller of the first order. — The Age (Australia)
Another cleverly skewed tale told from the self-conscious perspective of an outsider... arrestingly observant... Ashworth’s second book confirms that the first was no one-off... her talent could take her a long way’ — The Guardian
A wonderful tale, beautifully told. — Bella
A chilling, blackly funny novel with a surreal edge about the intensity of teenage friendship. — Grazia