There was a moment in mid-2000s London when every pub basement, tiny venue and
chaotic after-party seemed capable of producing the next great band. Camden was
buzzing, The Libertines and Amy Winehouse were providing the soundtrack, and an
entire generation was living somewhere between the gig and the night bus home.
It is this world that first-time author Camille Pandian Milner recreates in Climbing Up
the Walls, an immersive new novel from Unbound Books about friendship, desire, rivalry
and the fallout from a cultural moment that burned brightly and fast.

At the centre of the story is Stephen, a young music journalist tasked with getting a band
onto the Love Music Hate Racism festival bill. What starts as another assignment pulls
him into a volatile circle of musicians, writers and friends, where ambition, attraction and
loyalty collide. As the festival approaches, tensions rise and relationships begin to
fracture, setting in motion secrets, shifting allegiances and consequences that continue
long after the music stops.

Climbing Up the Walls has some serious visual pedigree too. Its original cover artwork is
by Susan Diamond, the acclaimed artist, fashion designer and performer whose work
spans painting, punk and underground culture. A co-founder of cult glam-punk label
Charles of London and former member of electro-noise outfit Gobsausage, Diamond has
exhibited internationally and counts Noel Fielding among collectors of her work.
This energy mirrors a story rooted in Pandian Milner’s own firsthand experience of the
era. Born in rural Oregon, she moved to London alone in 2002, aged just 18, and quickly
became immersed in the capital’s indie music scene, sometimes staying awake after
parties to write down conversations and moments while they were still fresh.

During her six years in London, she continued writing the novel alongside her studies,
completing her degrees, including an MA in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, where
she studied in a small class led by former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion. After leaving
London, she put the manuscript aside for 15 years before eventually returning to the UK
and revisiting the story.

Rather than focusing only on the famous names of the era, Climbing Up the Walls
captures the unsigned bands, journalists, artists and ordinary young people who gave
those years their pulse. The novel balances the glamour and exhilaration with the
jealousy, loneliness and comedown that followed.

“That era felt like living inside a story while it was happening,” says Pandian Milner. “There
was this sense that every gig, every party and every person you met might change your
life, but there was another side to it too. I wanted to capture both: the possibility and
euphoria, but also the loneliness, ambition and heartbreak. Most of the people who made
it special never became famous, and this book is really for them.”

Climbing Up the Walls is a funny, exhilarating and unflinching portrait of what it felt like to
be young, restless and completely convinced that the next song, party or love affair could
change everything.

Climbing Up the Walls by Camille Pandian Milner will be published on 1 October.
Priced at £12.99 for the paperback and £3.99 for the Kindle edition, it will be
available from Amazon and direct from the website, Unbound Books