Pretty Boy Red

Child prisoner Joel Brady is facing trial for murder. If he can survive that long...

‘Vivid, complex, hard-hitting and compelling’ Ray Robinson

In the juvenile wing of a prison in Western Australia, fourteen-year-old Joel Brady – small, girly-voiced, nicknamed ‘Psycho’ – is awaiting trial for his role as sidekick to child abductor Marcus Welby.

Joel still isn’t sure what he did that last day at Welby’s outback house of horror; his memory has blotted it out. Is his mind playing tricks in other respects too? Did he really see the malevolent Quentin, another of Welby’s associates, in the adult wing of the prison? Or is Quentin a figment of his imagination, as Joel’s lawyers insist?

A more immediate priority is hiding from the rampaging cons who have escaped the adult wing, one of whom wants Joel’s head. Will his cellmate Glenn, an arch-enemy who has become his first real friend, stay loyal?

Set in an ultra-violent, alpha-male world where human connection is a double-edged sword, and interwoven with a gripping courtroom drama in which the truth about Welby’s chilling set-up gradually emerges, this powerful literary thriller marks the debut of a remarkable talent.

‘Vivid, complex, hard-hitting and compelling, with a protagonist who is endearing but also full of ambiguity. The violence is visceral and the potential for violence is never far away. Reading Pretty Boy Red is like walking on thin ice’ Ray Robinson, author of The Mating Habits of Stags

‘The plot is a real page-turner, but with prose so unbelievably good that I didn’t want to rush. It’s by turns powerful and unsettling, harrowing and tender. The control and building of tension is masterly’ Sarah Easter Collins, author of Things Don’t Break On Their Own

‘Gripping and poignant, Pretty Boy Red explores the shadings between victimhood and complicity as the young Joel grapples with prison life and his strange fragmented memories. A stunning, authentic and mature novel from a wonderfully talented writer’ Tessa Sheridan, winner of the Costa Short Story Award

OUT JUNE 2026. AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER

Hardback: 352pp

Published: Lightning (June 2026)

ISBN: 9781785634512