Girls to the Front by Lucy Nichol review

About The Book

Book: Girls to the Front
Author: Lucy Nichol
Standalone or Series: Standalone
Publisher: Self published
Publication Date (UK): 16th October 2025

🔍Standout Read. Awarded to books I highly recommend.

My Review

It’s cover reveal day for Girls to the Front, Lucy Nichol’s forthcoming self-published, found-footage revenge thriller! I was lucky enough to beta read this earlier in the year and really enjoyed it. Keep reading for my review, plus a little more insight on this fab cover.

Having read Lucy’s When Sally Killed Harry earlier this year (check out my review here) I was really excited for this! Like me, Lucy hails from Hull, and her other books, The Twenty Seven Club and Parklife, are set there in the ’90s. I grew up attending Jelly at [W]elly on a Thursday, Spiders on a Saturday, and in between, gigs at the Adelphi, White Room, Ringside, etc. It’s brilliant to see books set within this alternative scene, especially one that’s so geographically familiar and nostalgic for me.

Nichol’s books are steeped in music and alternative culture, much like Girls to the Front. The title itself comes from a phrase coined by Bikini Kill’s frontwoman Kathleen Hanna during a concert, urging women to make their way to the front of the crowd. That was in the 1990s, yet by 2014 things still hadn’t changed much, prompting this article from Beulah Devaney that inspired Nichol to write this book. And let’s face it, in recent years, many male musicians have been exposed for abusing their power to exploit fans.

The cover complements the book absolutely perfectly, thanks to the fact it was designed by Chris Bigg, known for his work with the iconic indie label 4AD, creating album artwork for bands like The Breeders, Pixies and more. Lucy shared that Chris created the textured background by dropping paper on the floor at a gig to pick up the dirt left behind. It reflects the book’s central contrast that women go to gigs for a good time, but an underlying darkness often lurks beneath.

The story opens with a police interview room where we learn someone is dead. From there, the narrative shifts between two timelines with Kat in 1995 and Roma in 2024.

In 1995, Kat is taking her friend to a The Razor Heads gig, where her friend attempts a stage dive, only to be groped in the process. Infuriated by this mistreatment, Kat becomes involved in the women to the front campaign

In 2024, Roma works at Electric Dreams, a second-hand shop specializing in video games, music, and films. When she finds a VHS-C tape in a donation box, the contents send her on an unexpected journey…

I loved the strong feminist elements of this one, but also how it included positive representations of men as allies and equals. The messaging of the book is incredibly relevant and important, but Girls to the Front delivers it wrapped up as an entertaining thriller with a mystery to solve. Girls to the Front is an independently published book that is well worth your time.