Growing up a headstrong Irish Catholic girl in a notoriously tough housing estate in Northern England, Moya has just one goal-to live a rich creative life in America.

Shoulder tells the story of the riotous and hilarious path from her boisterous but warm family back home to her education in London and her escape to New York in the 1980s where she finds everything she's looking for-exciting jobs in the fashion industry and later at MTV-but where she also meets the man of her dreams, only to lose him to cancer following the birth of their son.

Told in a voice that is equal parts Alan Bennett and Frank McCourt, this is a story about the thrill of taking chances and the unbearable pain of loss, as well as a profound meditation on what it takes to survive and what it means to care for others.

Growing up a headstrong Irish Catholic girl in a notoriously tough housing estate in Northern England, Moya has just one goal-to live a rich creative life in America. Shoulder tells the story of the riotous and hilarious path from her boisterous but warm family back home to her education in London and her escape to New York in the 1980s where she finds everything she's looking for-exciting jobs in the fashion industry and later at MTV-but where she also meets the man of her dreams, only to lose him to cancer following the birth of their son. Told in a voice that is equal parts Alan Bennett and Frank McCourt, this is a story about the thrill of taking chances and the unbearable pain of loss, as well as a profound meditation on what it takes to survive and what it means to care for others.