I was thrilled today to receive an early copy of Nicola Chester’s beautiful new book, #GhostsOfTheFarm. The Preface is stunning - I can’t wait to read the rest of it. Thank you, @chelseagreen 🌱❤️ #ruralhistory #sustainability #environment #womeninfarming #farminghistory

Thanks to Phil Hewitt, Arts Editor at @sussex_express @Sussex_World for the interview - and a shout-out for my Chichester Literary Society event in January 2026! ❤️🔥 www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/coastal...

I LOVE getting photos of #OnTheEdge in its natural habitat - a sunny, sandy beach. ❤️🔥🌊🏄 This copy looks like it might have been handled by chippy and/or ice-creamy fingers! Even better!😂

More book signing in the Old Barn! Teachers don’t give lines as punishment anymore but signing 70+ copies makes me feel like a kid doing lines, except instead of “I must write neatly” it’s “Nicola Garrard”! 😂Buy your signed copy of #ontheedge from @oldbarnbooks Thank you!😁🥰

This book got me! 🤩🐴❤️#ahorsenamedsky by Rosanne Parry is set in the US with talking mustangs…sounds sentimental, right? NOT AT ALL! It’s brilliant. I SUSPENDED ALL DISBELIEF, handed in my adult reader card & became a child again. Get this book for the 7-13yos in your life⭐️💫

Here are our first book reviews for April. Thank you Lisa Hagan, Jayne Truran, Nicola Garrard, @stephenconnor.bsky.social @edfinch.bsky.social Helen Dearing, Theresa Gooda and @jobowers.bsky.social for your reviews this week: justimagine.co.uk/childrens-bo...

Written by UKLA Award winner, Nicola Garrard, On the Edge follows Rhys and his brothers, struggling to get by in an off-season tourist resort. When their home is threatened, Rhys resorts to drastic measures to protect his family. Members, repost to be in with a chance to win #lucky13th

Here are #TheEmpathyFix, a radical rethink of how we perceive poverty, & break the cycle from @keetieroelen.bsky.social, & #OntheEdge, a YA crossover novel on young lives & the dangers of rural hardship & inequality, from Nicola Garrard 2/4 #booksky

I was so happy when I was sent this photo, taken in a bookshop in Exeter! #ontheedge, next to the wonderful #kingofnothing surrounded by the bestselling YA post-apocalyptic, speculative, romance, fantasy and romantasy😂 #ukya #trendingteens @oldbarnbooks

they are felled time & time again by societal unfairness. A genuine page turner, stunningly written, with a message both from history & for our time. An essential beach read for kindness, & when thinking about booking your holidays, for any age. I loved these tender, angry, seasalt-on-wounds boys!

Raw, urgent, lyrical, funny & full of angry power & love @nmgarrard.bsky.social has created richly authentic characters & lives we rarely hear about, but should. Adolescent, working class boys in rural & seaside towns, pushed to the edge; unsupported by a system that disposes of them once used 2/3

As school librarian, I’m lucky I’m alive to the utter brilliance of YA/crossover fiction (do try it! It keeps you in touch, current, fresh-thinking & boy, it’s where it’s at!) This is one of the very best I’ve read for our time #OntheEdge @nmgarrard.bsky.social @oldbarnbooks.bsky.social #booksky 1/3

Subscribe to the excellent Caught by the River @caughtbytheriver.bsky.social newsletter for a chance to WIN one of three copies of #ontheedge😁🤩🥰 @oldbarnbooks.bsky.social www.caughtbytheriver.net/explore/topi...

On the Edge has hit the shores of Jersey! 🔥❤️😁

I had an absolutely brilliant night at the beautiful @petworthbooks with my wonderful publisher, Ruth Huddleston @oldbarnbooks We celebrated #OntheEdge in style! Thank you so much everyone for coming!🥳🤩🥰

Teachers! There’s a FREE teaching pack for #OnTheEdge available to download on the @oldbarnbooks website! It’s a 6-week unit of work, complete with slides, handouts, notes and extension activities for students aged 13 to 19. 🔥🤩 www.oldbarnbooks.com/products/on-...

Read my guest blog for @CILIPinfo’s Youth Libraries Group, about the experiences of rural working-class children in school, and how librarians are creating an inclusive space that transforms life opportunities.📚🔥#ontheedge @oldbarnbooks www.cilip.org.uk/blogpost/163...

I had the pleasure of chatting to @EddieNestor today on @BBCRadioLondon 🥰 Listen from 1:21:30 #ontheedge @oldbarnbooks www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Thank you @eddienestor @bbc for having me on your show, and @foylesforbooks Charing Cross for stocking #ontheedge! @oldbarnbooks 🥰🤩🔥

BBC baby! Here to talk about #ontheedge @oldbarnbooks 🥰🤩😎

Come and help celebrate the publication of #OnTheEdge! This Friday at The Petworth Bookshop 🥰

"Growing up, Meibion Glyndwr were my heroes. We couldn't afford to buy houses...prices kept going up & local people couldn't afford them. We agreed one thing - something had to be done & we had to strike." Read about the 1980s history that inspired #OnTheEdge🔥👇 www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wale...

Come help celebrate the publication of On the Edge! This Friday, Petworth! 🥳😁@oldbarnbooks.bsky.social

So pleased to win this book @uklitassociation.bsky.social #Lucky13th and @oldbarnbooks.bsky.social Many thanks! 📚 Delighted to have the chance to read this one @nmgarrard.bsky.social ✨️😊

If you loved #GlasgowBoys, there’s a novel (set right on the other side of the UK) waiting for you! Thanks @BooksForKeeps for this wonderful review!🥰 booksforkeeps.co.uk/review/on-th... @oldbarnbooks #ontheedge #summerreading

“Glasgow Boys by Margaret McDonald has been picking up well-deserved plaudits for its tender, insightful story… Garrard’s On the Edge takes an equally moving and empathetic look into the lives of boys growing up in the most challenging of circumstances” booksforkeeps.co.uk/review/on-th...

“GCSE English…is universally unpopular. I haven’t met a student or teacher who likes it …we need to add more modern relevant texts so we’re making it more engaging” www.theguardian.com/education/2025/aug/21/as-covid-effect-ebbs-gcse-results-reveal-broken-legacy-of-goves-resit-policy

Totally agree with you @stephenjdilley.bsky.social An incredibly powerful YA story with very real characters. Full of tension that keeps you reading and very relevant themes of today. @nmgarrard.bsky.social @oldbarnbooks.bsky.social

#OnTheEdge book launch event klaxon! Come and celebrate with me!📚🥳🤩😁

I sang Fisherman’s Blues by #TheWaterboys at the weekend! This song inspired a scene in #OnTheEdge where the teenage hero, Rhys, is caged in an after-school detention when all he wants is to be at sea in a boat or on a surf board (and have a girlfriend to love) … so he jumps out the window! ❤️ 🌊🏄

“younger adults embrace reading as an escape from their screens” Great news! www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

I’m getting the superstar treatment today with this gorgeous bouquet of flowers from my publisher, Ruth Huddleston, at @oldbarnbooks 🥰I’m enormously grateful for the care she has put into this book and the wonderful team she’s gathered around it.🤩🏄🔥❤️#ontheedge #ukya

Happy publication day to Nicola Garrard for her stunning YA novel On the Edge! It's a heart-in-mouth read for young adults, old adults, or anyone in the middle 😊Congratulations @nmgarrard.bsky.social @oldbarnbooks.bsky.social 📚 #booksky #writingcommunity

It’s publication day for On the Edge!🥳🥂🎉 What a wonderful feeling! 📚❤️A huge thank-you to everyone who has made this book happen, especially @abirfellows and the team @oldbarnbooks 🤩🥰❤️ @petworthbookshop

Happy publication day @nmgarrard.bsky.social - ON THE EDGE is an absolutely terrific YA/adult crossover novel and a perfect summer read. I had the privilege of reviewing it a couple of months ago for @justimaginecentre.bsky.social here: justimagine.co.uk/childrens-bo...

Happy publication day to @nmgarrard.bsky.social - ON THE EDGE, a YA/crossover novel exploring brotherhood, rage and resilience, is out today! ‘Tender and angry, salty and sweet’

What’s it like living in a tourist town where grockles go on holiday? On the Edge is out today! 🥰❤️🥳🤩

So happy to see #OntheEdge is Armadillo Magazine’s Book of the Week! 🤩🥰 @oldbarnbooks @Armadillomag www.armadillomagazine.co.uk

One more day editing draft zero to turn it into draft one, aka something that's fit for an editor to read. What's your number one self-editing tip?

Tomorrow is publication day! 🤩🥳🥰 Tell me what you think of it! #ontheedge 🏄🌊🔥@oldbarnbooks

@nmgarrard.bsky.social @charliehacking.bsky.social @jotregenza.bsky.social @joyisreading.bsky.social @lockwoodcm.bsky.social @rshargreaves.bsky.social @mrsbaker6.bsky.social @rcharlesworth.bsky.social

Please excuse me for blowing my own trumpet, but these #ontheedge reviews in @theobserveruk and @telegraph are just ⭐️⭐️🌟✨💫🤩 On the Edge is out this Thursday! 🥰 @oldbarnbooks #summerreading #surfsup🏄 #revolution #protest #devon #yabook #ukya

Here’s a reading from On the Edge, in which the hero, Rhys, imagines an unlikely future in which Milly, an artist he is secretly in love with, designs the surfboards he will need as a potential champion surfer. 🏄🌊🔥 #surf #summerreading #nicolagarrard #ontheedge

Curious to find out why a progressive and conservative national papers agree about #OnTheEdge? Go to @oldbarnbooks to order a signed copy! Or pop into your local library and ask your lovely librarian to stock it. Thank you!🥰🤩

Thrilled to see another fabulous review for my book in a major national newspaper! We’re on a roll! Thank you, Emily Bearn for giving On the Edge FIVE STARS!🤩 🔥⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ @oldbarnbooks #onthedge #nicolagarrard #summerreading

'What matters is producing a quality novel that brings loyal and enthusiastic readers.' Nicola Garrard, author of On the Edge, shares her experience of publishing a third novel. Read: tinyurl.com/39vtrjtt @nmgarrard.bsky.social

What role does children’s fiction play in awakening political consciousness? Read my thoughts on this and #OnTheEdge, featuring my favourite YA and Children’s fiction with a political message, from McKee’s Elmer and the Hippos to Patrice Lawrence’s Needle. fcbg.org.uk/on-the-edge-...

ICYMI here’s my @Writers_Artists Yearbook article about what it’s like to publish a third book. Does the submission stage get any easier? Can authors change genres or audience? What’s it like working with a new publisher, editor and PR team? 😁📚🥰 www.writersandartists.co.uk/advice/third...

A new contemporary YA from @nmgarrard.bsky.social follows surfer Rhys, who finds solace on the waves away from the difficulties at home caused by distant bureaucrats. But when his safe place is taken away, Rhys' actions quickly spiral out of control. Out 14th August!

Read my @Writers_Artists Yearbook article, where I talk about #OnTheEdge, the highs & lows of being 'on submission' & my gratitude to my amazing agent, publisher, editor & PR team who take novels off laptops & into bookshops & libraries!📚🥰 www.writersandartists.co.uk/advice/third...