7 Miles Out review – heartache and humour

Carol Morley excels at articulating difficult experiences in this autobiographical novel about a father’s suicide

“When and where was I ever going to feel like I belonged?” wonders Ann, the narrator of film-maker Carol Morley’s astonishing autobiographical novel about the agonising aftermath of her father’s suicide in 1977, when she was 11. (Her elder brother Paul explored this in his book, Nothing.)

Here is a girl who doesn’t feel that she belongs in her own skin, let alone in her school or home. Morley excels in articulating the most inexpressible experiences, brilliantly tackling bereavement, bullying, breakdown, and depicting depression in a style that melds heartache with humour.

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