Deep Cuts

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 towards 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.

Review

‘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 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

'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' 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 … 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

‘A blockbuster of a novel. Cool, sexy, smart and pithy – this is the love story you’ve been waiting for’ Lucy Clarke, author of The Hike

‘It’s no surprise that several editors were devastated to miss out on winning this book at auction … it’s a must-read for fans of Daisy Jones & The Six and One Day’ RED

‘I’d never really identified with the phrase “screaming, crying, throwing up” before I read, and fell head over heels in love with this incredible novel … Can you tell I’m obsessed? I really think this is going to be huge’ The Bookseller, Book of the Month, March 2025

About the Author

Holly Brickley was born and raised in Hope, British Columbia, a small town known primarily for being the filming location of the first Rambo movie. At 18 she moved to study English at UC Berkeley with an MFA in Fiction at Columbia University.

Instead of putting this education to any sort of literary use, she then spent a decade-plus running around San Francisco and New York, working in trend research and branding, and basically making a career of going out. She now lives with her husband and two daughters in a creaky old house in Portland, Oregon, where she prefers to stay in―and write. Deep Cuts is her debut novel.