THE DAZZLING DEBUT NOVEL ABOUT LOVE, COMMUNITY AND DREAMS DEFERRED - BY AN EXCITING NEW LITERARY VOICE
ONE OF THE OBSERVER´S 10 MUST-READ DEBUT NOVELISTS OF 2022
A GUARDIAN NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2022
SOHO HOUSE BREAKTHROUGH WRITER AWARD 2022 WINNER
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WRITERS´ GUILD BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2023 ´A rare glimpse into the harsh realities of street life and love in luminous prose, rendered with sensitivity and without sentimentalism. An astonishing debut´ Cherie Jones, author of HOW THE ONE-ARMED SISTER SWEEPS HER HOUSE
Sayon Hughes, a young Black man from Bristol, dreams of a world far removed from the one in which he was raised. Far removed from the torn slips outside the bookie´s, the burnt spoons and the crooked solutions his community embraces; most of all, removed from the Christianity of his uncaring parents and the prejudice of law-makers.
Growing up, Sayon found respite from the chaos of his environment in the love and loyalty of his brother-in-arms, Cuba; in the example of his cousin Hakim, a man once known as the most infamous drug-dealer in their neighbourhood, now a proselytising Muslim; and in the tenderness of his girl, Shona, whose own sense of purpose galvanises Sayon´s.
In return, Sayon wants to give the people he loves the world: a house atop a grand hill in the most affluent area of the city, a home in which they can forever find joy and safety. But after an altercation in which a boy is killed, Sayon finds his loyalties torn and his dream of a better life in peril.