Joan on Cigs and Sweets reads all the horoscopes in all the papers first thing. She knows everyone's zodiac sign, so if she thinks there's something you should know she'll stop and whisper your stars in your ear as she passes your till. This morning she stopped at me.

'˜Change. Be prepared for it. Good fortune brought by someone dark.'
I said, '˜I wish.'
She just nodded sagely and moved on.

Maureen from behind said, '˜Probably means when Sunbed Ida brings the change bags round.'

Linda works the tills at Safeshop. It's just what you do, what everybody does. The grammar school girls get the careers; the comp girls get the two-bit college courses and the low wage jobs. But when model agent Rafe brings his disposable razors to Linda's till, he recognises the raw talent that could transform both their careers. Almost overnight Linda becomes Crystalline, a supermodel catapulted on to the international stage. But in the blur of first class flights and flashy restaurants that follow, will she begin to forget where Crystalline ends and Linda begins?

The bittersweet story of a young checkout girl's rise to fame, Supermarket Supermodel is prize-winning playwright Jim Cartwright's first foray into novel-writing. Bearing the hallmarks of his best-loved plays, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and Road, this rollicking debut takes you on an intoxicating journey, brimming with life, heartbreak and humour.