★蘇格蘭書信信託「新銳作家獎」第二本小說

A poignant and darkly funny conversations starter of a novel that will do for women’s shame and embarrassment.

Set in Hamilton, Scotland, Cringe follows the defining experiences of shame throughout the lives of three women, depicting the impacts of these moments on their friendship and selfhood.

Ruth, Kirsty and Fiona have had a lifetime of shameful and embarrassing moments. Some painfully public, others privately devastating, but each one shaping their identities and influencing every decision they make.

Told through vignettes of these cringe-inducing memories, the three friends’ interconnected narratives shift in and out of focus from youth to adulthood and beyond. These moments unfold at school, in the workplace, in nightclubs, in doctors’ appointments and even in their own homes, exposing the ripple effects of a shared sense of shame that can drive women apart, or bring them together. Cringe will do for women’s shame and embarrassment what Lisa Taddeo’s Three Women did for female sexuality and desire.

 

Samantha Dooey-Miles writes fiction that explores the significance seemingly small moments can hold and how characters react in times of high emotion. She is particularly interested in shame, embarrassment and female rage. Her stories have been published in Gutter, Postbox, Severine and Razur Cuts amongst others and her monologues have been performed by Slackline Productions and Coronavirus Theatre Club. In 2021 she won a Scottish Book Trust New Writer Award.