Book of the week

Published:

Missy

Published by Chatto and Windus

THE celebrated playwright, Chris Hannan, may be new to the novel but he’s no stranger to the female protagonist. Indeed, so skilled is Hannan at turning out women, it’s hard to believe he isn’t one himself.

Dol McQueen, narrator, anti-heroine and star of his astonishing first novel, Missy, is every bit as startling and original as Elizabeth Gordon Quinn, or Ann from Shining Souls – two of his greatest stage creations. Unlike them, however, Dol inhabits a world far removed from Hannan’s native west of Scotland – the Wild, Wild West of America, 1862.

Having wound up in a terrible fix with a vicious pimp and a crate full of A-grade opium, 19-year-old Dol – a fast-talking, gin-slinging “flash girl” (saloon hooker) – “shins out” across the lawless plains of western America to escape her troubles and search for a better, richer life in the eastern States.

Her biggest problem – besides Pontius the pimp, her beloved alcoholic mother, banditti Indians and a gang of bloodthirsty kids hot on her tail – is her addiction to liquid opium, or “missy”.

When the missy runs out and the chase is cut short with a bang, Dol is forced to face up to her delusions.

The whip-crack wit and blistering idiom of Dol McQueen lends this rollicking Wild West adventure an infectious rhythm and vivid sense of time, place and character.

It’s funny, moving and thrilling throughout – a triumph of the imagination; intoxicating. Trust me – one drop and you’ll be hooked.

Lesley Hart