Eileen Battersby

Born in California, Eileen Battersby is a graduate of University College Dublin. An Irish Times staff arts journalist and literary reviewer, she has won the National Arts Journalist of the Year award four times and was National Critic of the Year in 2012. Having already published two non-fiction books, Eileen introduces Teethmarks on My Tongue, her first novel.

Helen Stockton DeFoe's world disintegrates after her mother is gunned down on the streets of Richmond. The more intently she begins to observe her remote, detached father, the more she learns about her place within the rarefied world she inhabits. Just when it appears she is at last becoming closer to him, it all falls apart as he coldly undermines her abiding passions, causing her to question the identity she's created. Her rebellion leads her to Europe on a disturbing path dominated by chance and evolving self-realisation.

A hugely impressive, beautifully written debut novel narrated by an increasingly obsessive teenager as she embarks on a physical and psychological journey towards maturity. Eileen Battersby has created a classic coming of age tale with a naive yet relatable central character.