SHORTS: Jacqueline Crooks on Avoiding Cliches and Character Development

Jacqueline's book Fire Rush was shortlisted for the 2023's Women's Prize and Waterstone's Debut Fiction Prize. It's a Sunday Times Best Novel and The Guardian's Best Fiction Book of 2023. It was also one of The Observer's Best Debut Novels. Maggie O'Farrell even gave it her stamp of approval. It's certainly one of the best books I've ever had the privilege of reading. Here's the blurb courtesy of Penguin's site: Yamaye lives for the weekend, when she can go raving with her friends at The Crypt, an underground club on the outskirts of London. Then everything changes. Yamaye meets Moose, who she falls deeply in love with, and who offers her the chance of freedom and escape.After their relationship is brutally cut short, Yamaye goes on a dramatic journey of transformation that leads her to Jamaica, where past and present collide with explosive consequences. Get the book here, or at your local seller.