Clare Allan

Clare Allan studied English and theatre studies. She won the Orange/Harper Short Story Prize for one of her short stories. Poppy Shakespeare is her debut novel. In a witty, vibrant and moving way, Clare Allan describes madness from the inside and questions the boundaries between sanity and mental illness. Poppy Shakespeare is a surprising and highly original novel; it was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. A remarkable debut.

“Poppy Shakespeare is driven by the force of the blunt, sacrilegious and emotionally distorted voice of the narrator, a woman who knows almost everything about the hospital system and almost nothing about the world outside.” — The New York Times Book Review

“Poppy Shakespeare is a striking debut novel, surreal, raw and very funny.” — The Guardian