“A moving exploration of mental health, enduring music myths and why love can help us through.” Stylist
A new novel that raises awareness of mental health problems through the media lens of The Twenty Seven Club takes readers back to a 90s Northern England when the world lost another great rock musician.
From published author and mental health campaigner, Lucy Nichol, The Twenty Seven Club, her first venture into adult fiction, explores the impact that the media can have on our mental health – throwing in a tonne of nostalgia, humour and popular 90s punk rock and pop.
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, 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 beloved whippet, has doggy IBS, and her job ordering bathroom supplies at the local caravan company is far from challenging. So when her dad, Tel, informs her that Kurt Cobain has killed himself aged 27, Emma is consumed with anxiety.
Janis Joplin, Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix…why have so many rock musicians died aged 27? And will Emma be next to join The Twenty Seven Club?
My Thoughts
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This is undoubtedly one of the most unique stories I have read in quite some time. In The Twenty Seven Club we meet Emma. She is a young woman who, after being deeply affected by the death of Kurt Cobain, who is one of her biggest idols, finds herself jumping headfirst down the rabbit hole of information available at the local library as she begins researching the deaths of other rock idols who also passed away at the age of twenty seven.
As Emma’s twenty seventh birthday is fast approaching, she finds herself questioning everything in her life, from her own behaviours and her life choices. As Emma becomes more obsessed with the deaths, and almost convinced she could meet the same fate, suddenly everything seems rather unappealing to her.
This was such a complex, interesting story that highlighted the huge and incredibly life changing consequences mental illness can have on a persons life. I know I could certainly relate with Emma on several occasions, as I am sure many others will too.
The author has such a fascinating writing style that really draws the reader in and keeps them well and truly invested to the very end. I thought the attention to detail was marvellous, and really allowed me to picture the scenes vividly within my mind.
The voice that is given to Anxiety is exactly what we needed. So often people will play down the affects of it, however when you live with it yourself, you will come to relate to so much the character experiences, and the battle to just get through the day. A marvellous read that really deserves so much credit for tackling subjects that so many will steer away from.
The Twenty Seven Club is immediately available in paperback from Amazon and an official launch will take place on 3rd March 2021 when the e-book will be made available along with the book’s playlist. You can also sign up to Lucy’s author newsletter
About the Author
Lucy is a mental health campaigner and PR consultant, and a former columnist with Sarah Millican’s Standard Issue magazine. She has written for The Independent, The I Paper, NME, Red Magazine, Den of Geek, Men’s Fitness, Metro and Huff Post. Her first book, A Series of Unfortunate Stereotypes, a non-fiction mental health memoir, was published by Trigger in 2018. Lucy has worked with the media in PR and marketing for almost 20 years and has experienced Generalised Anxiety Disorder for even longer.
Victoria Wilks 