‘Every school has one. They are ugly or fat. They have scars or acne or birthmarks. Or maybe it’s just something about them that doesn’t quite fit with our video-hits view of how teenagers should be?

We are mean to them. We ridicule them. We make monsters of them. We don’t want to stand near them or sit next to them.

Perdita was one of those. If you had asked me how I felt about her I would have said that I hated her, but I couldn’t have told you why.’

Megan is one of the leaders of the in-group. She wouldn’t dream of talking to Perdita, ‘the Freak’. But when they are thrown together in detention, she finds herself drawn into a spiky, challenging almost-friendship. Megan then faces an uncomfortable choice: Perdita or the group?

Alyssa Brugman’s first novel, Finding Grace, has been widely and warmly acclaimed for its humour and freshness. In Walking Naked she has written sharply observed, unflinching story about the ins and outs of girls’ friendships, the power of words and poetry and the painful getting of wisdom.