Lightning Books scoops debut novel from Scottish playwright Boyle

Lightning Books has scooped the debut novel by award-winning Scottish playwright and rising screen star Kenny Boyle.

Dan Hiscocks, publisher, acquired world rights to The Tick and the Tock of the Crocodile Clock directly from the author. It will be published in paperback and e-book in May 2022.

The book tells the tale of two misfit call-centre colleagues from the Southside of Glasgow who quit their jobs to pursue their creative dreams. They embark on a liberating rampage which is curbed by sudden tragedy.

Boyle's plays include "Playthrough" and "An Isolated Incident", and in 2021 he received a New Playwrights Award from the Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland. He is also the star of the feature film "Lost at Christmas", with a supporting cast including Sanjeev Kohli, Sylvester McCoy, Clare Grogan and Frazer Hines, which is coming soon to mainstream TV.

Lightning’s senior editor Simon Edge said: "With a playwright’s ear for dialogue and a wonderfully lively sense of plot, Kenny Boyle writes about millennial mental health with wit and sensitivity. This exciting debut is 'Thelma & Louise' meets 'Gregory’s Girl' in literary form. We’re overjoyed to be publishing it."

Boyle added: "For at least a decade I’ve been working on this story in some way or another. Finally having the chance to tell it through Lightning Books feels like releasing a baby animal I’ve raised from birth, but who belongs in the wild. I hope it does wonderful things, is loved, and brings joy into people’s lives now that it’s finally been set free."