Careless: Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2022

At 3.04pm on a hot, sticky day in June, Bess finds out she’s pregnant.

She could tell her social worker Henry, but he’s useless.

She should tell her foster mother, Lisa, but she won’t understand.

She really ought to tell Boy, but she hasn’t spoken to him in weeks.

Bess knows more than anyone that love doesn’t come without conditions.

But this isn’t a love story...