Deep Cuts
Good songs come from love. Great songs come from heartbreak.
The biggest debut of 2025.
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‘Tender as a ballad and pleasurable as a pop song’ COCO MELLORS
‘Clever and heart-wrenching and addictive’ MIRANDA COWLEY HELLER
‘An incredibly special book’ BETH O’LEARY
‘So relatable and enjoyable’ GILLIAN MCALLISTER
The first time Joe plays Percy one of his songs in his college room in 2000, she instantly realises three things:
One, she is watching a star in the making.
Two, she can shape his music into something extraordinary.
Three, she will always be on the sidelines.
She swallows her jealousy and throws herself into collaboration, transforming Joe’s songs into indie hits with her blistering critiques.
But there’s an undercurrent to the music they’re making – something undeniably electric, hurtling toward love. And then, almost inevitably, towards heartbreak.
As Joe steps into the spotlight, can Percy bear to watch on in silence?
And can he exist there without her?
Deep Cuts is an irresistible novel about passion and obsession, love and longing and, above all, our need to be heard.
READERS ARE SAYING…
‘The best debut novel I’ve ever read’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘I need this book to come out so I can talk to at least one person about it!! Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow meets Normal People, with all the nostalgia of Almost Famous and High Fidelity … I really think it’s gonna be hard to read a better book this year!!!! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘You need to add this to your TBR. Just trust me on this, ok?’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘I can’t believe this book is a debut novel because of how good it is. I felt a mixture of Sally Rooney with Gabrielle Zevin and it was delicious’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘I love it with all my heart, I’m super sad it’s over and I will be insufferable when it’s out’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘I wish I could have written this book. I’m jealous of people who haven’t yet read this book’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘This is an absolutely breathtaking debut. I cannot hammer that home enough’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘I can’t believe this is a debut! It’s perfect for fans of One Day and Daisy Jones & The Six … This one hit me hard’⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
”'Tender as a ballad and pleasurable as a pop song, Deep Cuts is both a nostalgic romp into the indie sleaze era of the early aughts and a timeless love story of creative collaboration, competition and ambition” - Coco Mellors, author of Cleopatra and Frankenstein and Blue Sisters
”'I absolutely loved Deep Cuts ” - clever and heart-wrenching and addictive, the kind of novel that grabs you in an instant and takes you reeling through its pages' Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper Palace
'I find it hard to remember the last time I found a novel so relatable and enjoyable. Prepare to fall in love with Percy and Joe this spring' Gillian McAllister, author of Wrong Place, Wrong Time -
'Deep Cuts is an incredibly special book, one of the best I've read in a very long time. Moving, beautiful, rich with emotion, it's an epic love story and the story of a woman finding her creative power, all rolled into one. Extraordinary' Beth O'Leary, author of The Flatshare -
”'Warm, nostalgic, totally engrossing. I loved this novel” - Liz Moore, author of The God of the Woods
'Every writer knows the highest compliment is envy: I wish I'd written that. Holly Brickley's Deep Cuts is a joy: fizzy, moving, endlessly smart. Brickley doesn't just write well about music, she anatomizes why and how we love it, and she makes us feel the stakes of that love. So: I wish I'd written that. The other person I'm envious of is you, because you're about to read this deeply wonderful book for the first time' Claire Dederer, author of Monsters -
”'Smart, sensitive and assured, Deep Cuts tells us as much about the hearts of its music-loving characters as it does about music’s power to distill overwhelming feelings into indelible art … Brickley is the real thing, and so is Deep Cuts” - Peter Ames Carlin, author of Bruce
'Clever, nostalgic, and deeply geeky. Deep Cuts is a literary indie-pop classic - brilliantly constructed, with a raw, heartfelt energy that captures an era' Florence Knapp, author of The Names -