This novel is really more of a collection of interconnected short stories following a trio of best friends as they come of age in working class England in the Y2K era. The stories are laid out non-chronologically and told from different POVs —including more experimental ones like second-person and first-person plural. It’s a bold choice and it works SO well!

I’m not going to lie, I almost DNF’d this book at the beginning. It’s written entirely in local dialect, which I wasn’t expecting and found jarring at first. But I’m so glad I stuck with it, because by the third story I was absolutely hooked, and I came to love the linguistic choices.

This book portrays the experience of girlhood, and especially female friendship dynamics, in such a profound way. It’s deeply rooted in a specific place and culture, and yet so many of the feelings the characters experience are incredibly relatable. The stories were deeply moving and one in particular broke my heart.

This is my favourite book I’ve read so far in 2025. I am so excited to read more by this author!

Colwill Brown’s debut novel, We Pretty Pieces of Flesh, released on March 4, 2025, deserves a lot buzz. I truly loved this book about female friendship and cannot stop thinking about it.

The three friends, at the heart of this coming-of-age novel, completely stole my heart. Set in the 1990s and early 2000s in Doncaster “Donny”, in South Yorkshire, England, Shaz, Rach, and Kel’s voices are made poignant in the author’s choice to tell their story in a Southern Yorkshire dialect. I initially felt thrown off balance reading a story in a dialect which was so unfamiliar to me that it was nearly like learning a new language, but it didn’t take long for me to understand that Brown’s linguistic choice added authenticity and vibrancy to her characters.

All three friends, who each have their own set of challenges including socio-economic class, family structure, and societal expectations, are doing their best to navigate their world. Their young friendship begins when they are entering middle school. As they move through girlhood and adolescence firmly attached at the hip, for better or for worse, we witness them at their most vulnerable. Be forewarned, their stories are gritty and raw. I’m in my 50’s, and I typically stay clear of coming-of-age stories, but this one was so brutally honest with such a deep sense of nostalgia, making it unputdownable for me.

We eventually meet Shaz, Rach, and Kel in their 30s, and it here where the author lost me a bit. This section felt rushed, and less nuanced than the part of the novel told from the younger POV’s of the friends. There is also a lot of time jumping in this book. While this didn’t bother me, it did slow down my reading at times so I could get my footing back.

All in all, this was a solid debut, and I am looking forward to reading more by this author. If you enjoy stories of female friendship, books with a strong voice and sense of place, and are up for a linguistic challenge, I whole-heartedly recommend We Pretty Pieces of Flesh.

4.25 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co for the ARC of We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by ColWill Brown in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you for the ARC!

Not going to lie, I had no idea this was written in the local dialect and I kept thinking for the few first sentences that this ARC had too many spelling mistakes. Once I got into the groove of the language and the story, it became very pleasurable.

This book is about girlhood and growing up and liking boys and female friendships and how society sees women and how women are expected to behave. It reads more like a series of interconnected short stories but having grown up in the same era as the main characters, all the references made this a very interesting read. There are some dark topics but the book handles them well. I’d recommend it.

If you’ve ever turned on the subtitles on movies or TV shows just to help you understand foreign characters’ dialects, you may struggle with the heavily-accented writing style of this coming-of-age novel. It’s certainly a challenging read—not just because of its language but also because of its sometimes brutal honesty. But it’s a real and memorable portrait of friendship through the years.

Full review published on NightsAndWeekends.com and aired on Shelf Discovery.

I was hooked from the beginning!!
It was amazing and engaging.
I was instantly sucked in by the atmosphere and writing style.
The characters were all very well developed .
The writing is exceptional and I was hooked after the first sentence.

We Pretty Pieces of Flesh is a coming of age story set in the 90s in Donny, a town in Northern England. Rach, Shaz, and Kel became best friends in school, but their friendship was always knotted and complicated. Rach and Kel had grown up together, making Shaz feel like an outsider trying to earn her place in their friendship. Shaz wasn't afraid of anything, always pushing the limits, so Rach and Kel were competing for her affections in their own ways. They are entangled with each other, but have to unknot themselves as they grow older and grow apart. This is a story of friendship and girlhood with a strong sense of place and a really unique voice.

To start off with, the writing style of this story took some getting used to. It's written in a Yorkshire dialect that changes slightly from character to character, especially as they grow up, and it definitely took some getting used to, but I did get used to it. There was some slang that I was unfamiliar with, but I could usually figure out the meaning through context clues. I think the writing style really set the tone of the story, but it might not be everyone's cup of tea. The story was told from each of the girls' perspectives at different times, so the narrative jumped around a lot. Each chapter focused in on a particular time in their lives, so it felt like you got to know the characters really well at that particular moment and you could see how they grew and changed. The story does touch of some difficult topics (drinking, drugs, sex, eating disorders, young deaths) and does not shy away from the more disgusting parts of growing up and understanding your own body, so anyone sensitive to those topics will want to give this one a pass. This will appeal to readers who are looking for a gritty coming of age story with a unique narrative voice.

What a delight! Know that this might baffle you at first as it's written in Yorkshire dialect. But know also that once you get the rhythm (and it won't take more than a page or two), you're off on the adventures of Rach, Shaz, and Kel, three young friends whose lives are a tumble. This reads almost like a series of linked short stories but it's very clearly a novel that goes somewhere we haven't been before, using language that might be alien to many of us. I found myself swept along- it became a page turner. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Terrific read.

I was very excited to read this book but it wasn’t the right time for me to read it.

The dialect was very challenging in this book and while I did get the hang of it, I don’t think with the current events right now I have the bandwidth to put that much effort into reading for pleasure. It’s a case of it’s not you, it’s me.

So I may come back to this one at some point.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Honestly, it took me awhile to get used to the dialect and I can see that being a turn off for some, but once you get used to it I don’t feel there’s any other way to tell this story. This was a beautiful, sad, and relatable coming of age story about three girls becoming best friends and growing up together. Then growing apart and going their own ways. It isn’t told in a linear sense but instead each chapter jumps back and forward to different time periods and points in the girls life. It also changes perspectives AND switches between first, second, and third person. This was truly unique and unlike anything I’ve read but also completely satisfied the itch for a coming of age story about girlfriends and growing up.

DNF @ p30

Pre-Read notes

This one got me with the title and the very strange cover design that seems to be at odds with the title. I love when I get this sort of curiosity about a book from its cover alone.

Final Review to come

Review summary and recommendations

I was having to work too hard at translating this one, both in terms of the language and the story development. Unfortunately, I found the language so impenetrable that I couldn't connect with other story elements, like character, that would have kept me interested in what was happening. I'll work really hard for a good story, but I couldn't *find* the story in this one!

This is definitely an experimental novel, stream-of-consciousness always is. It will for sure find it's audience who will be able to enjoy its weird brilliance more than I can!

Reading Notes

One thing I loved:

1. A bold use of dialect in this one! In this way, it reminds me deeply of KITTENTITS, which I liked.

Three (or less) things I didn't love:

This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

1. Dialect is hard to read and stream-of-consiousness makes the narrative hard to follow. Like KITTENTITS, I expect this will be very challenging read. *edit I'm finding this dialect impenetrable.

2. I can't follow the over-arching story thread. I keep getting stuck in the details, which are often delivered in the form of long strings of phrases describing what is *not*, rather than how things *are*.

3. I just realized that I find stream-of-consciousness extremely tedious. Often, I find excessive repetition, as here. It's real work to decipher a story from the stew of random activity and unnecessary words. Though it is always interesting to see how different authors interpret the mind into writing.

Rating: DNF @ p30
Recommend? not sure
Finished: Feb 25 '25

Thank you to the author Colwill Brown, publishers Henry Holt and Co., and NetGalley for an accessible advance digital copy of WE PRETTY PIECES OF FLESH. All views are mine.
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”You thinking it wa safer to be a girl. How long you believed that. How many years it took before you stopped being thankful when men said “ladies first,” simpering grins hiding their true meaning, that safety wa theirs to gi and theirs to tek away.”

We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown is a moving, fierce look at a trio of girls who form a tight friendship forged with booze, drugs, and sex before spinning off in different directions. As adults, they try to regain their footing, to find that easy thread again, and they try to reclaim some of that spark they had as youth.

I love how the author shapes the book; starting the novel, I thought “geez, Shaz isn’t a good person, is she?” and then immediately after those first couple chapters my feelings became “oh my God, I want to put Shaz in bubble wrap after giving her a good, long hug”. Shaz was the beating heart of the book, the one who was rough and hard because she had to be, but still looked out for the others, still tried to brew at them gently and be accommodating. She desperately craved and sought a love and understanding that always seemed just out of reach when she was tearing around with Rach and Kel as girls. It was so sad, but so real, too. Also real was the dynamics inherent in a group of three friends; there will always be times where it’s two against one and a running struggle to be the one not left out in the cold, whether you’re aware of it at the time or only realise it in hindsight.

I know people won’t like that the book is written in dialect, but the dialect makes it sing. It makes the setting come alive and crackle, and it just wouldn’t be the same if everything was neat and polished. These girls are pissing and vomiting and staggering around, getting grimy and dirty and wild, trying to be their true selves, trying to find their true selves—why shouldn’t the writing reflect that?

It’s easily four stars; I hesitate to go higher because near the end it begins to get a bit overwhelming with the drinking and the carousing, but I’m very glad to have read this book. It’ll stick with me for some time, I bet.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I understand why the author wrote this book in the voice she did, but man did it make reading it hard. I couldn't read more than a few pages, truthfully. I think a lot of people will be turned off from reading this.

"We Pretty Pieces of Flesh" by Colwill Brown is a book that makes you think deeply about what it means to be human. It explores ideas about who we are, how we feel vulnerable, and some of the darker parts of life. Brown's writing is both beautiful and intense, pulling readers into a world that is both lovely and a bit unsettling.

The story starts with a strong sense of honesty that grabs your attention right away. The characters in the book are well-developed, each dealing with their own struggles and desires. The way Brown writes creates vivid pictures in your mind that stay with you even after you finish reading. The emotions in the story are strong, making it a powerful read. It made me nostalgic for my teenage years in the 90s.

Brown mixes the ugly with the beautiful. The title itself hints at this mix, encouraging readers to think about tough truths regarding our bodies, beauty, and how fragile life can be. These themes make you reflect on your own experiences and what society expects from us. Even though the topics can be heavy, Brown writes in a way that keeps the story interesting without it feeling like it is too much. The story moves at a good pace, with moments of tension building up naturally, leading to an ending that feels well-deserved.

"We Pretty Pieces of Flesh" is an impressive first book that shows Colwill Brown's skill as a storyteller. It's a book that stays in your mind, inviting you to think about its deep ideas long after you've finished it. It's highly recommended for those who enjoy books that make you think and feel.

The dialect just didn’t work out for me here. Have read and enjoyed many books that employed writing in local dialects but it felt forced and odd here.

Gritty, raw, and poignant. A story about what was, how it was lost, and how pain and anger changed a friendship.

Three friends-Kel, Shaz, and Rachel-form a tumultuous friendship that keeps them afloat through grade school, but evaporates with the passage of time-much like many of our friendships from younger years. And what ultimately threatens to fracture them forever is a painful secret that has broken one of them, and may do the same to another.

And while it took me a bit to grasp the Yorkshire dialect, it didn’t stop me from turning each and every page of this coming-of-age story. It laid bare the ideals we place on our friends as kids, how we form opinions of who they are or aren’t, and how vulnerability can save us in the end. Colwill did not shy away from giving us messy and, at times, cruel nature of jealousy in relationships, and how insecurity will drive away the ones we need and love.

This was not an easy story to read. It’s dark and at times, depressing. But there is also hope, and it is what gives these friends one more day of fight. If you are a fan of contemporary coming-of-age, this one’s for you. 4.25 stars

Living in Sheffield, I'm surrounded by people "speaking Yorkshire" so reading a book in dialect was an easy joy! I really enjoyed this debut novel about the relationship between childhood friends and Donny girls Kel, Sharon and Rach and how it changed as they matured and followed different paths.
My only negative comments would be that I struggled at times with the sudden POV changes, and it did seem ( maybe unnecessarily) long. Looking forward to more by this author though
Thank you to netgalley and Henry Holt and
company for an advance copy of this book

"We Pretty Pieces of Flesh" follows Shaz, Rach and Kel at different times through each of their lives from pre adolescence to their early thirties. We follow through the POV of each character as they grapple with different defining moments and eventually, drifting apart. It's written in Yorkshire dialect, which was a bit of an adjustment. The story really captured the intricacies of young female relationships and personal evolutions. Set in post-Brexit England, it is a balanced and strong debut novel. Thank you so much to NetGalley & Henry Holt and Co. for the ARC. You can check this one out when it publishes March 04, 2025!

An exciting read that requires a lot of concentration to get through since it is written in a Yorkshire dialogue. I was challenged by the read and am not sure I liked it but I did appreciate the author's efforts. I think readers up for gritty coming of age story will enjoy.

Thank you to Henry Holt & Co and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

These characters were fantastic, but I wanted more connection emotionally between plot events. It felt like every time I really started to care about what was happening with a character, we switched it up to something else entirely.

So unfortunately this ended up being a DNF. I appreciate the authenticity of being told in a Yorkshire accent while it takes place there, but the language was too hard for me to be able to follow the story.

I made it about 25% and I loved the friendship between the 3 main characters but I was so focused on trying to read the language, I lost focus of the plot over and over again. I’m not going to give the book a bad rating because that’s not fair since it was a language thing for me but I just couldn’t get through it enough to give it a full assessment.