Home / Biography/Autobiography / Atypical Girl - Punk rock, Liverpool, and trying to be normal Atypical Girl - Punk rock, Liverpool, and trying to be normal by Penny Kiley Atypical Girl - Punk rock, Liverpool, and trying to be normal SKU: 9781846976919 Categories: 2026 Birlinn Spring Titles, Art and Photography, Biography/Autobiography, Popular Culture £12.99 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. * With an all-star cast including Paul McCartney, Duran Duran, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Echo & The Bunnymen, Wayne Hussey, The Mission, Sisters of Mercy, The Cramps, Jonathan Richman, Bill Drummond, KLF Tracey Thorn of Everything But The Girl, Buzzcocks, Jimmy Sommerville, The Communards and Alan Bleasdal.   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 a digital content editor, often for non-profits. ISBN: 9781846976919 Publication date: 05/03/2026 Format: Paperback Extent: 304 pages Publisher: Birlinn Ltd Categories: 2026 Birlinn Spring Titles , Popular Culture , Art and Photography , Biography/Autobiography