Atypical Girl

It’s 1977, and punk rock has just hit Liverpool. The legendary Eric’s club is home to the city’s rebels, posers and misfits. It’s a place of attitude, adventure and new possibilities, and it changes lives. Some become pop stars; Penny Kiley becomes a music journalist.

The story traces Penny’s relationship with the music scene from the turbulent political 1980s into the changing culture of the 21st century. Throughout these years, she never stops being a misfit, and the question remains: how do you navigate normal life when punk is dead and you don’t know you’re autistic?

Atypical Girl begins as a coming-of-age story and ends as a midlife reinvention. What unites them is a search for identity and the role that music plays in all our lives.

Author Biography

Born in Kent, Penny Kiley later studied at Liverpool University, where she became immersed in the vibrant late-‘70s music and cultural scene.A writer for Melody Maker, Smash Hits and the Liverpool Echo, she enjoyed a successful career at the heart of music journalism.Today, she is based in Oxfordshire, working as adigital content editor, often for non-profits.