Jennifer Love

“We were wild animals after all. And some of the ones with the biggest teeth.“

On the run from a crime that her mother entrusted her to keep a secret, sixteen-year-old Smidge embarks on a venture towards independence that lands her under the spell of a fellow runaway and aspiring performance artist, Violet. Their attempts to sell their performance drags them through the underbelly of America, eventually finding an uncertain home in a cult-cum-travelling-circus. Smidge’s stab at a clean break from her upbringing proves a failure, however, forcing her to change her compass and confront the shame, fear, and anger that have guided her here.

“Written with dark wit and knife-sharp prose, Please Fear Me is a fierce debut by Jennifer Love. Teenage Smidge navigates the world around her with clarity of selfhood defined not by the obliterating damage caused by others, but with deep compassion and an instinct for life.” — Melanie Finn, author of The Hare

“A poignant and atmospheric coming of age story. Smidge’s deadpan wit never detracts from the depth and beauty of her interior world. Jennifer Love has produced the literary equivalent of the best kind of road movie.” — Ola Mustapha, author of Other Names, Other Places

Published September 2024 with Fairlight Books in Oxford, UK. Releasing in US/Canada on September 13th, 2025. Preorder options here and here.