Local author Ali Cargill’s first published novel is a sometimes shocking account of what it is like to be a teenager – narrated in an authentic teenage voice. BETHANY COPELAND reports.

“There’s stuff I’ve not told anyone. Not even Mr Stevenson. In fact, especially not Mr Stevenson. You know what teachers are like.”

So begins local author Ali Cargill’s new book, ’Koff. And yes, that apostrophe at the beginning of the title is correct.

’Koff is narrated by Emily, a 15-year-old girl labelled as “trouble”, who spends much of her school time in the Unit, where school troublemakers are placed.

In many ways, she’s a typical teenager: knowing, moody, and tough on the outside but vulnerable within; daydreaming her way into fantasies which allow her to win out against a hostile world. Until a new student, Marcus, arrives in the Unit – and even worse, the vicious Maxine moves in at home…

Emily narrates the novel in the spiky, vivid language of an intelligent teenager who feels herself at odds against the world. It’s a style that grabs your attention and makes you feel she is speaking directly to you.

Ali, an English tutor from the Yorkshire Wolds near Pocklington who has taught at schools across the country, admits she has drawn on her own experience to help her write the book.

She also has three teenagers of her own – triplets aged 18 – who have helped her get Emily’s voice right. Her heroine isn’t based on them, she stresses. “But they could tell me which words were still ‘cool’ and frequently used by teenagers.”

None of the characters are real, and the events aren’t based on real situations, people or places she has known. But what she has set out to do is to be brutally honest about the kind of situations some children like Emily can face. “The book has much to say about the troubles young people from difficult home backgrounds experience both in and out of school.”

The novel is deliberately shocking at times, she admits, both in the language used (sometimes very strong, be warned), and also in what happens to the characters. She deliberately chose to publish independently so she wouldn’t have to water it down. “It is at times an uncomfortable read,” she says. “It is unapologetic, but restrained in its approach to difficult issues such as abuse.

“It depicts some of the shocking, life-affecting problems that young people are confronted with. That’s the reality of their troubled lives – and yet we still expect them to come to school and sit and study,” says Ali.

The author – who also leads a creative writing group at Pocklington – will be attending the official book launch of ’Koff in the town next Saturday. But although she has finished Emily’s story, she aims to revisit the topic. There is “another book to come, at least,” she says.

’Koff by Ali Cargill is published by Mole End Café Publishing on March 2, priced £7.99.

It is available from moleendcafe.com, ypdbooks.com or Amazon.

The book will be officially launched at Judsons in Market Place, Pocklington, on March 2, when Ali will be available to sign copies from 10am-1pm.