The First Move Paperback by Jenny Ireland

Product Details

• Publisher: Penguin UK (2026-05-26)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 448 pages
• ISBN-13: 9780241591826
• Item Weight: 323.19 grams
• Dimensions: 19.84 x 12.95 x 2.74 cm

Juliet believes girls like her - girls with arthritis - don't get their own love stories. She exists at the edges of her friends' social lives, skipping parties to play online chess under a pseudonym with strangers around the world. There, she isn't just 'the girl with crutches'.

Ronan is the new kid: good looking, smart, a bad boy plagued by guilt over what happened to his brother Ciaran. Chesslife is his escape.

Juliet thinks Ronan thinks someone like Ronan could never be interested in someone like her - and she wouldn't want him to be anyway - he always acts like he's cooler than everyone else.

Little do they know they've already discovered each other online, and have more in common than they think . . .

About the Author

Jenny Ireland is a Belfast-based Young Adult author. Her debut novel, The First Move, was shortlisted for both the Branford Boase Award and the YA Book Prize. She won the Diverse Book Award for YA Fiction in 2024, and writes stories about teenage love, identity and resilience.