Wild Ground by Emily Usher

I felt like this was an absolute jewel of a novel, which was a surprise as I’ve not heard about it in the book community or social media. I love it when Im surprised! Jennifer, lives in London and has a job in a cafe. Day by day she’s building a life away from her hometown and a past she tries hard to outrun. So, it’s quite a shock when one day the past catches up, walking slap bang into the middle of her present. Alongside Jennifer’s current narrative, we journey back to her adolescence. In her hometown she’s known as Neef, and she was joined at the hip to best friend, Danny. Each of them has survived childhood trauma but what was once a bonding experience becomes a weight it’s impossible to carry. 

This book had everything I love in a story - complex and three dimensional characters as well as meaty emotional issues. Danny and Jennifer have come through some terrible experiences, that severely affected their childhoods. Ever since, they’ve been trying to heal from neglect and the resulting abandonment issues. It affects their relationship so they self-sabotage and make bad decisions. The fear they’ll be abandoned again drives their behaviour but both use creativity to cope, something that really resonates with me because I use it in mental health workshops. The author has created characters with such depth and they really bond over the way they cope. Her writing and storytelling and his flare for gardening come from a similar place. Danny develops a real caring and nurturing side, growing his plants with a love he hasn’t fully felt. The friendship grows over shared plans to leave home and what they see as a dead end town. Friendship turns to love, but love is a confusing emotion for them. Children always love their parents, no matter what they’ve been put through. Instead of thinking their parent is at fault for not showing love and care, they assume they are unlovable. Both these people have a huge need to be loved, but that love hasn’t been forthcoming. That’s scary and makes it hard to trust what the other person in the relationship is telling you, even if they’ve always had your back. This can be difficult reading at times, especially Jennifer’s pain of growing up with addiction in the family home. It’s a narcissistic situation compounded by poverty. There’s also the issue of racism for Danny as an individual and for both of them as a couple.

There is hope though and I loved how the author created that joyous and unique feeling of first love. That familiar ache you have in the early stages of falling in love was beautifully portrayed. There’s also a resilience growing in them both. I was wishing so hard that they would make the right choices. With Danny there’s a fragility that’s raw and heartrendingly real. The whole book is raw and filled with humanity, done with such care that I’ll be keeping an eye out for her future work.

Another poignant debut novel! It delves into the complexities of first love, personal growth, and the challenges of overcoming a troubled past. The narrative follows Neef, a young woman who reflects on her formative years with Danny, a boy she met during her adolescence in a small Yorkshire town. Their deep bond evolves from friendship to love, set against the backdrop of systemic issues such as addiction, poverty, and racism.

Usher's writing is both raw and evocative, capturing the intensity of young love and the harsh realities that shape the characters' lives. The novel is structured to intertwine past and present, offering readers a comprehensive view of Neef's journey and the enduring impact of her relationship with Danny. The honest of the writing and compelling character development makes this one well worth the read.

A heartfelt and thought-provoking exploration of love, resilience, and the scars of the past. Emily Usher's debut novel offers a compelling narrative that resonates with readers, making it a noteworthy addition to contemporary fiction.

I thought I would love this one. The premise sounded so up my street but instead I was really disappointed. The pacing was too slow and I didn’t find anyone particularly endearing. I ended up DNFing 42% of the way in.

We all remember that first heartbreak, be it as a kid and then as an adult, it hurts. When prejudice plays apart it more than the two of you, I loved this book it remind me of a teenage love that was not approved of by my parents. One to recommend.

When we meet Jennifer, she’s working in a London cafe, working hard to leave her past behind her; but when her past walks back into her present, we are taken back to her childhood and adolescence, to a time and place where she was known as Neef, and Neef and Danny were inseparable, until the relentless forces around them, and the weight of the trauma they carried, created a space from which there was no going back.

Usher breathes such life into her two beautifully drawn, struggling characters, drawn together through circumstances involving loss, abandonment and neglect, coping with the losses of their childhoods through their creativity. Her a storyteller and writer; him a deft and intuitive gardener, nurturing his plants and flowers. They develop a deep bond that turns from friendship to love, sharing their plans, their hopes, their dreams of making it out of their rural Yorkshire town; but both are coming from places of trauma, at times flawed in their decisions and self-destructive in their actions, sometimes coming from a place of self-preservation or a deep need to be loved, even if it’s by the people who have hurt them the most.

There is so much raw emotion in this story, exploring themes including racism and the prejudice and obstacles faced by individuals and mixed race couples, generational trauma, the destructive and cyclical nature of addiction, mental health, poverty, and allowing ourselves to move on from the trauma and mistakes of our past.

This is difficult reading at times; our narrator Neef’s story, from a childhood of yearning for a life beyond her world of neglect in the shadow of addiction, to a self-destructive adolescence when Danny cannot always be what she wants, needs him to be; and the losses, prejudice and abandonment that Danny has endured. But there is also deep friendship, love and that particular indelible joy of first love, as well as meaningful moments of resilience in the face of adversity. And I absolutely loved the ending of this book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the DRC.

"Wild Ground" by Emily Usher is such a special book. Some have likened it to "Normal People" but whilst I found that and the characters trivial, "Wild Ground" really goes for the heart and once it has hold, it won't let go. Neef and Danny are such likeable characters and they have a great friendship set against the background of their troubled family. You can see the slow decline coming in both their personal lives and relationship but yet you read on clinging for that small seed of hope.

Jen(nifer) or "Neef" has had a really tough life with spells as an inpatient in a mental health unit. She has grown up in poverty with a drug addicted mother with a penchant for men who abuse her. Finally, Jen's mother meets an much older bloke who has a pub in a small town and they move there where Jen meets Danny, a mixed race boy who will change her life. Forward into the future and Jen has escaped to Brixton and is working in a cafe when Denz, Danny's father tracks her down looking for his son. Through flashbacks and events in the present the story of Neef and Danny is revealed. The story is very well written but the pace could be a little quicker in parts. It is an interesting, layered coming of age story with characters who are fleshed out so that you really can visualise them and care about them.

I liked this book. It's not my usual type of read though. I found the ending to be unsatisfactory for want of a better word - hence 3 stars. Potentially could have been a 4 star read.

Oh wow. This was a gem of a book. From the get go, I knew I’d love this. The setting is so close to where I now call home that I felt connected to the backdrop and the familiar accents and people. There’s a darkness running throughout this book, keeping you on edge and hoping and praying that the characters make the right choices. The story is something I’ve seen time and time again in people I used to know, it hits so close to home and is so real and raw.

Usher doesn’t shy away from the painful truths of poverty, racism and abuse. Despite it all, there’s so much hope and love. I absolutely adored Neef, or rather Jen’s, story. Her longing for love and acceptance was something I think everyone can relate to, and I’m so happy she got to feel that warmth eventually. Danny was so beautifully broken, in a way that’s often hard to convey in writing, but Usher manages it brilliantly. There’s an ache between these two characters, one that leaves the reader feel heartbroken for them both.

The entire book is brimming with emotion and humanity. I simply adored it, even though it was a tough read, it was done so well that I’ve come away feeling light. And I love the spotlight on the North. Simply mesmerising.

An excellent story of first love in a terrible upbringing. With clear parallels to Juno loves Legs, this is a more gritty account of abuse and drugs as two teenagers try to come to terms with loss and neglect in their childhood. I loved the characters and couldn't put this book down for wanting to find out what happens to them. Overall a sad but uplifting tale with just enough ambiguity at the end to keep you wondering...
#WildGround #NetGalley

4.5 ✨


It's one of those books, one that builds up nicely, to the point you're in too deep and you care a lot about what happened to these characters, and what will happen to them next.
The inevitable slow decline for Neef, that is horrible to read but you have to. You just have to know.
The ending left me with a tear or two in my eyes , and hope.
Incredibly good.