This Might Sting a Bit

The debut novel by Claire Adlam
Light and wittily told, This Might Sting a Bit is a laugh-while-you-weep story of hope, survival and family. It throws some punches, yet embraces the reader as it follows the journeys of broken and vulnerable members of society, and of those who fight to save them.

This Might Sting a Bit

Meet Kat. Just a regular teenager growing up on a Zimbabwean farm. Full of fun, but sensible – her brother and grandfather are far more suited to the role of family nutters. Then a tragic accident takes her – slowly, insidiously – from her idyllic world into a darker reality. Chronic pain leads her to a stormy love affair with pharmaceuticals and into a battle she seems unlikely to win. Playing fast and loose with their prescription pads, doctors help set the scene for Kat's utter destruction. In treatment, a group of colourful characters do their best to draw her from the dark underbelly of life, back into a lighter world. In the background, skeletons continue to tumble from the family closet with Kat's mother saving the best for last.

This Might Sting a Bit

Front cover image © Ambra

Reviews

Average rating: 4.83 based on 6 reviews

I love Southern Africa and i consider culture very important way to get to know more about locals. I was very lucky when i found this book on the shelf in the bookstore in Pretoria. I was craving for a good story from this region. Author is telling a story of growing up on the farm in Zim with all of those perks and struggles being a teenage dirtbag. On more than 400 pages Adlam will take you on journey through the deepest corner of our souls. The darkest and the most brightest moment of Kat’s own wellbeing. Her ability to be the kindest, smartest and the worst person at once, to bring the joy into life of others as well as to hurt them and dostroy everything and everyone. Despite some unnecessarily long parts i would mark this book as “The World According to Garp” of Southern Africa.

Thank you Claire. My son is currently in a South African rehab centre, and your writing has given me an insight into what he is going through. Your book brings up the important point that Zimbabwe still suffers from a lack of qualified help for addicts. Looking forward to your next story.

A great read. I thoroughly enjoy the story in the book. As a recovering addict I could identify with many of the issues and trials.

This well-structured story of recovery & hope is so full of loveable characters that I struggled to say good-bye at the end! I need a sequel!! Claire's words paint a genuine experience of life in the African sun, the journey of emotional growth from child to adult and is an authentic balance between tears of joy, despair & hope! Anyone whose life has been touched by addiction will take something away from this powerful "coming of age" story - I couldn't put it down!

I could not put this book down.

He is no hero who never met the dragon, or who, if he once saw it, declared afterwards that he saw nothing. Equally, only once one who has risked the fight with the dragon and is not overcome by it wins the hoard, the ‘treasure hard to attain’. He alone has a genuine claim to self-confidence, for he has faced the dark ground of his self and thereby has gained . . . an inner certainty which makes him capable of self-reliance.
Carl Gustav Jung