With No Crying

''Britain''s equivalent to Patricia Highsmith, Celia Fremlin wrote psychological thrillers that changed the landscape of crime fiction for ever: her novels are domestic, subtle, penetrating - and quite horribly chilling.'' Andrew Taylor

With No Crying (1980), Celia Fremlin''s eleventh novel, tells of Miranda, a daydreaming fifteen-year-old schoolgirl who has encouraged a boy to seduce her and is glad to find herself pregnant, but then bitterly resentful when her parents talk her into an abortion. She pads up her stomach, runs away from home, and finds refuge in a squat where her new housemates await the newborn keenly. How, though, can Miranda save face?

''An acute piece of social observation, psychological insight, and intuitive sympathy that makes for a very satisfying read... Quite brilliant, nicely understated, and tantalisingly real.'' Hampstead & Highgate Express