The Twenty Seven Club By Lucy Nichol

‘The Twenty Seven Club’ is by Lucy Nichol.

It’s 1994. The music industry is mourning Kurt Cobain, Right Said Fred have re-emerged as an ‘ironic’ pop act and John Major is the country’s prime minister. Nothing is as it should be. Emma is hurtling towards her 27th birthday, riddled with anxiety that her idols Joplin, Hendrix and Morrison all died aged 27, and now Kurt Cobain has gone too. Will Emma be next to join The Twenty Seven Club? Emma, a working-class rock music fan from Hull, with a penchant for a flaming Drambuie and a line of coke with her best mate Dave down The Angel, is troubled. Trev, her whippet, has IBS, and her job ordering bathroom supplies at the local caravan company is far from challenging. So when her dad, Tel, informs her that her music idol, Kurt Cobain has killed himself aged 27, Emma is consumed with anxiety. Why have so many legendary musicians gone aged 27? Is there a link between the members of the so-called Twenty Seven Club? Is this why her mum had an affair and left them? And could Emma be about to join The Twenty Seven Club too?

When Kurt Cobain takes his own life, this sets Emma off into a spiral convinced that possibly she could be next. A punk and rocker lover, all her heroes have been part of the 27th Club and she fears as her 27th birthday looms closer that she could be joining it.

Seen through the witty dialogue of a young woman from Hull, this book follows the journey of Emma and Trevor, her irritable bowel suffering Whippet who has recently become a new father to Afghan puppies. Working in admin in a company selling caravans, Emma lives for nights out with her best friend Dave, where they dance the night away, but when Dave is diagnosed with testicular cancer, Emma fears that it will be Dave joining the 27 Club and not her after all and is determined to do everything to be there for her best friend.

Set in 1994, Lucy paints a vivid picture of the era from the fashionable Doc Martens to D:ream being on repeat with their smash hit ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ which seems to be constantly on repeat putting Emma under pressure to make a better a life for herself. After her mother left her dad, she’s suffered from anxiety and stress and seems to always be on the cusp of a heart attack. She’s used to the doing the same things and the possibility of losing Dave terrifies her and having to cope with change. But when she meets John, the owner of the Afghan that Trevor impregnates, Emma falls in love for the first time and realises that sometimes change is good.

A relatable story about the struggles and fears of life, ‘The Twenty Seven Club’ is a dark, witty and cleverly written story about the power of friendship and the strength of hope against a 90’s soundtrack.

You can buy ‘The Twenty Seven Club’ from Amazon and is available to buy from good bookshops.