There’s a lot of buzz for Frances Crawford’s debut, A Bad, Bad Place, and its teenage protagonist Janey Devine. We got in touch with Frances Crawford to ask her to tell us about her favourite teenage characters in fiction.

A Bad, Bad Place
By Frances Crawford
Published by Bantam

Teenage protagonists have a special place in fiction, offering a view from the no-man’s land between childhood innocence and adult selfhood. The five characters I’ve chosen are by Scottish writers, perhaps hinting at a deeper search for national identity (to which the teenagers in the room shrug and sigh!)

Frank The Wasp Factory by Ian Banks (1984)
It is a testament to Banks’ stunning writing that we feel sympathy for a sixteen-year-old engaged in bizarre rituals, animal torture and murder. Frank is both disturbing and hilarious, and the twist at the end of his astonishing tale is mind-blowing. In a stroke of marketing genius, early book covers included negative reviews from stunned literary critics – exactly the kind of shock horror reaction teenagers revel in! For all Frank’s shocking behaviour, the novel raises questions about identity and gender which resonate even louder today. And you will never ever forget what happened to Eric.

Chris Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon (1932)
Fifteen-year-old Chris grows to womanhood in this sweeping tale of post-First World War rural Scotland. The agonising choices facing teenagers are beautifully embodied in Chris’ struggle between emotion and intellect. Despite poverty and heartache, her distinctive goodness and connection to the Scottish landscape shine through. Underlining the encroaching changes to Scotland and the inevitable loss of war, the narrative never strays from Chris’ inner self. A beautiful portrayal of teenage life.

Janet O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker (1991)
When sixteen-year-old Janet is found dead wearing an evening dress her family are secretly relieved (first page revelation so not a spoiler!). An eccentric intellectual whose heart breaks for an injured bird but who cheerfully buries her baby sister, Janet is every teenager who yearns for individuality. Barker’s writing can shift from deeply comic to deeply moving within a paragraph, with imagery as surreal and strange as her protagonist. In a society which prizes conformity, we should all be more Janet!

Cora Only Here, Only Now by Tom Newlands (2024)
A compelling coming-of-age story set in a 1990s ‘manky wee hellhole’ of a town. Cora is neurodivergent, a term unknown in her world, and she fizzes with life, spirit and drive. Cora faces up to the deprivations around her with humour and courage, and embodies the way teenagers are shaped by and rebel against their background. The importance of friendships and alliances are authentically drawn, as is the hope of something better which burns in young minds. Cora’s voice is poignant, exciting and nuanced – she’s a teenager to root for.

Jane The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark (1963)
Follows a brief period in a shabby but gentile boarding house during the Second World War. Jane is part of the group between ‘eighteen and twenty’ and like so many teenagers, is eager to make a serious mark on the world while also craving the beauty and social poise she believes she lacks. Spark is a master of bringing out the oddness in her characters, and Jane who is admired for her ‘brain-work’ also longs to be thin enough to accompany the glamourous girls as they wriggle through the bathroom window, slathered in margarine. From the outset, we know tragedy is coming, and this gives the novel Spark’s characteristic unsettling edge. But we have Jane, funny, smart and conflicted, to guide us to the devastating conclusion.

A Bad, Bad Place by Frances Crawford is published by Bantam, priced £16.99.