An Observer Top 10 Debut Novelist of 2022

'Announcing the arrival of a 23-year-old author whose work is wise beyond his years' Guardian
Sayon Hughes, a young Black man from Bristol, dreams of a world far removed from the one in which he was raised: 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 the law.

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, once 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.


'Consumately crafted' Patrick McCabe
'Full of wisdom' Independent
'Luminous' Cherie Jones
'Remarkable' Nathan Harris