Product Description

Kate Carr is the luckiest girl in the world. Everyone at school envies her because her father is such a charmer, the most mesmerising minister in Edinburgh. The clever new girl Lydia envies her most of all. Sometimes Kate wonders what it would be like to have a mother like Lydia's, or even a doting grandmother like stupid Moira's, but she knows what she has is better. She is special; she is Keith Carr's 'first fruit', his only child, his offering. He is training her up in his image, to have It - his special power, the ability to manipulate people. She practices what he's taught her with devastating effect...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #608325 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 254 pages

Review
'Remarkable' Ruth Rendell 'The atmosphere is beautifully crafted. I have rarely read an ending as gripping - or horrifying - as this one... but be warned, this is the sort of book that you do have to put down - it's too overwhelming not to.' Shots Journal 'As the scheming teenager relates her attempts to control and manipulate her trio of school friends, the unspoken horror of her real childhood is gradually revealed. It's a clever and disquieting book, which leaves a vivid impression after the final pages.' The Sunday Telegraph

About the Author
Penelope Evans was born in Wales and grew up in Scotland. She attended the University of St. Andrews before becoming a criminal lawyer where she gained a lot of experience that later fed into her crime writing. Her first novel The Last Girl was published to critical acclaim in 1995. She currently lives in Buckinghamshire where she combines writing fiction with journalism.

Customer Reviews

A Gripping Read, Penelope's best yet
We took this on holiday with us. I think my other half finished it in a day! It is gripping because the secrets are revealed slowly through the story. You can't put it down because you want to know what is going on!
It is moody, dark and very very creepy.
Enjoy it ... but not too late at night ... :)

Mind Chilling WOW
I loved the book and can't wait for the film. On one level this a story of the everyday horrors of being an adolescent girl. Friendships, looks, brains, and then small but deceitful and manipulative small cruelties that girls inflict on each other are examined in such a way that it's hard not to remember the agony of being fourteen. Yet, there is a nagging suspicion something deeper is going on. When it comes it's a shock but why so unexpected? I challenge you to predict the end even at the last chapter. Just as good as her "Last Girl" which can't be beaten.

FIRST FRUITS
I just finished reading `FRIST FRUITS' by Penelope Evans and I think that I must have been reading a completely different book that most of the other reviewers. While I did enjoy this book it was certainly not what I would describe as bone chilling. Slightly disturbing maybe, sad definitely, but bone chilling absolutely not, nor did I find fourteen year old Kate Carr to be remotely evil. Quite the opposite in fact; I believe that Kate is an average teenager who thinks the world of her extremely egotistical and very much disturbed father. Keith Carr is Kate's fanatically religious father who preaches one thing but practices something completely different, and unfortunately Kate believes everything he has taught her and is left to deal with what happens as all her beliefs are slowly stripped away from her.
I really don't want to give too much of this book away, but it is almost impossible to write a proper review without doing so. However, I will say that although this book is primarily about Kate what disturbed me the most were the actions of her father who always believed that there was a "lesson" to be taught and his very unorthodox methods of teaching them. If in purchasing this book you are expecting a book frightening enough to keep you up at night this is not it. But if you are looking for something that explores the psychological effects that growing up in a household such as Kate's has on an adolescent girl this is the book for you.