No Country for Girls
On sale
27th April 2023
Price: £9.99
The Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, 2023
Genre
GOLD. THEFT. MURDER. A ROAD TRIP TO DIE FOR.
Winner of the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize
Shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger Award
Shortlisted for the Davitt Award for Best Adult Crime Novel
Shortlisted for the ACWA Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut Crime Fiction
Longlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award
Longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize
‘An unrelenting page-turner’ CHRIS WHITAKER, author of WE BEGIN AT THE END
‘A triumph’ THE i
‘The real star is the desolate Outback’ THE TIMES
‘Thrilling . . . It left me breathless’ ALEX MARWOOD, author of THE WICKED GIRLS
‘Perfectly paced’ SCOTSMAN
‘Razor-sharp wit meets pumping action’ FEMI KAYODE, author of LIGHTSEEKERS
‘Beautifully done’ LITERARY REVIEW
‘A thrilling cross-country chase through remote Australia’ SUNDAY POST
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Charlie and Nao are strangers from different sides of the tracks. They should never have met, but one devastating incident binds them together forever.
A man is dead and now they are unwilling accomplices in his murder there’s only one thing to do: hit the road in the victim’s twin cab ute, with a bag of stolen gold stashed under the passenger seat.
Suddenly outlaws, Nao and Charlie must make their way across Australia’s remote outback using only their wits to survive. They’ll do whatever it takes to evade capture and escape with their lives . . .
Thelma & Louise for a new generation, No Country for Girls is a gritty, twisty road-trip thriller that follows two young women on the run across the harsh, unforgiving landscape of Australia.
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What readers are saying about No Country for Girls
‘What an incredible, high octane, thrilling ride this book is!’
‘I desperately wanted to know what happens next’
‘I loved the characters and the setting, which was described with vivid and rich imagery’
‘Incredibly well plotted‘
‘Tense and thrilling . . . Highly recommended, there are absolutely no slow bits to this story‘
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Reviews
The vast expanses of Western Australia provide the backdrop for an exciting tale . . . Styles ratchets up the tension as we ride through vivid settings with two strong personalities who don't trust each other . . . An intense, fascinating, female-centred read
Bold and badass, No Country For Girls is the kind of searingly stylish, unrelenting page-turner I just adore. I burned through the twisting plot almost as fast as Charlie and Nao light up the Australian outback'
You'll be gripped from the first page of this perfectly-paced thriller. Styles masterfully interlaces dark humour with tension by the bucketload, and poignant familial drama, introducing two new literary heroines for modern fiction. 10/10
Styles's first novel starts with a bang . . . There are decided echoes of films such as Shallow Grave and
Thelma & Louise in this bumpy road trip . . . The real star is the desolate outback. And, refreshing for a summer read, there isn't a luxury villa in sight
Riveting . . . There's a fabulous rawness to Styles' debut crime tale; strong voices and viewpoints that aren't polite or prettied up. Gritty and gripping, No Country for Girls marks the emergence of a talented new crime voice
Aussie noir is another on-trend fashion in publishing, and with debuts as flinty and suspenseful as Emma Styles' No Country For Girls, it's easy to see why. This is a breathless outback chase novel sparked by a violent crime . . . Styles takes familiar tropes and energises them with a sense of escalating dread. The book's billed as an outback Thelma & Louise, though it's closer in tone to the Cormac McCarthy referenced in the title
A fast-moving, cinematic debut by a new Australian author . . . Violent, picturesque and a barrel full of twists along the way, this high-octane road movie of a novel delivers on all counts
I LOVED THIS BOOK. Thelma & Louise meets The Tourist in this pacey, surprising and relentlessly tense Aussie road trip thriller. With No Country for Girls Emma Styles is not playing around - she's staking her claim as the new queen of Outback Noir
No Country For Girls lives up to its title and Emma Styles is to be lauded for an exceptional debut crime novel . . . Wonderful
The grit and harshness of [Australia] runs in her writer's bloodstream. This is a two-fisted road trip adventure . . . One action twist after another. Terrific fun! 10/10
Razor-sharp wit meets pumping action, with twists and turns to keep the pages turning! No Country for Girls is the road trip for our time; relevant, powerful and unrelentingly entertaining . . . Welcome Emma Styles. We didn't know how much we needed you until you came
A unique voice, compelling protagonists, and a dizzyingly wild and gripping ride that grabs you by the throat - this is outback Australia like you've never seen it and you will not soon forget it
Fresh as hell with two strikingly original protagonists who blaze a thrilling trail through the outback. Not just a terrific debut, a terrific book full stop
As the two leave a trail of destruction in their wake, each of their heartbreaking stories unravels as their pasts catch up with them, and they bond over life and death . . . A triumph
An edge-of-your-seat, high-octane, thrilling road trip across the Oz Outback, in the company of three unforgettable women
A taut, evocative and utterly absorbing road-trip thriller about two young women on the run for their lives, both caught up in a landscape as full of threat and danger as the people who are after them. Unputdownable
An impressive first novel . . . Styles describes the terrifying emptiness of the Outback and the drilling heat with absolute conviction. The ending is beautifully done
Every now and then you open a book, and you know immediately that here is something fresh and new and exciting. This novel is all of that, with extra . . . No Country for Girls is both original and brilliant, and it is hard to believe that this first-class novel by Australian-born Emma Styles, now living in the UK, is a debut
No Country for Girls expertly captures the protagonists' grit and tenacity in a thrilling cross-country chase . . . Introducing two memorable literary heroines. A perfectly paced thriller
A thrilling cat-and-mouse pursuit through West Australia's Badlands . . . It left me breathless
A thrilling cross-country chase through remote Australia and a gipping yarn about two heroines that masterfully interlaces dark humour and tension with poignant familial drama. Wonderful!
Emma Styles' thriller perfectly captures the pulse-pounding chaos of life on the run . . . Gripping