Kirjahaku

‘Alex Wheatle writes from a place of honesty and passion’ Steve McQueen, director of Small Axe East of Acre Lane is the fast-paced and razor sharp story of a young man trying to do the right thing from celebrated author Alex Wheatle, one of the figures who inspired Steve McQueen’s Small Axe It is 1981, and Brixton is on the verge of exploding. Biscuit lives with his mother, brother and sister, trapped hustling on the frontline for the South London badman Nunchucks. As the patience of the community breaks and the riots erupt, Biscuit must make a choice that could change his life forever. ‘His prose is as sharp as a barber’s cutthroat and the hard edged dialogue perfectly captures that London vibe. Thrilling, very funny, and most of all a page turner’ Courttia Newland

THE NEW NOVEL FROM THE WINNER OF THE GUARDIAN CHILDREN'S FICTION PRIZE 2016Round these ends, it's hard to hold on to your dreamsLife's a constant hustle for Mo. Her mum's boyfriend Lloyd is just another man who likes to beat down women; the South Crong streets are fraught with hazards and nasty G's; and when it comes to matters of the heart . . . she's still hung up on Sam.No wonder she's vexed so much of the time. Thank god her sistrens, Elaine and Naomi, are on her side: if one of them falls then they all fall.But when badness goes down and a life is left hanging in the balance, Mo has to face her hot urge for revenge . . . and she might end up losing more than she wins.

"She wondered what kind of world she had brought her two daughters into - the tedious cycle of rural Jamaican life. No chance for them to set off upon adventures and see the outside world." But sisters Jenny and Hortense Rodney, descendants of the fierce Maroon people, do get to see the world, and Island Songs is their story. Growing up in rural Claremont, working amid the hustle and bustle, lawn parties and 'houses of joy' in Trenchtown, the two sisters take a chance and move to England with their husbands, that far-off land of riches, where they settle down to motherhood amongst the jazz cafés and bleak streets of Brixton. A hauntingly and beautifully written evocation of twentieth-century Jamaica, its history and traditions, Island Songs is an epic of love, laughter and sorely tested family loyalties. Many stories are told, but many more secrets are never revealed.

WELCOME TO CRONGTON - where drama will find you around the next kerb ... Boy from the Hills' parents are going away a week before Christmas, so in true Crongton style, McKay and the rest of his friends persuade him to throw a house party. But, Boy from the Hills must keep his dad's precious Aston Martin safe, as well as look after his neighbour's dog until Boxing Day. Just before the party, Boy from the Hills runs into school bullies, Vincent Chapman and Donald Thompson, and when they find out about the party, they do everything they can to get in. House party hijinks, romantic entanglements and dance competitions abound in this light-hearted instalment of the beloved Crongton series.

The Crongton Knights are back, facing more daring drama in the final book in Alex Wheatle's award-winning series

A thrilling and heart-warming tale about family, friendship and football from award-winning author, Alex Wheatle.'Alex Wheatle is such a fine writer. This novel is beautifully written, beautifully paced. We're drawn easily into his vivid world and we're rooting for his hero all the way.' - David AlmondFourteen-year-old aspiring footballer Kadeen Best is sent to stay with her Aunt Mel in London after her beloved older brother is tragically killed and she identifies the shooter - a dangerous crime lord. She must carry her grief while adjusting to her new home - away from everything she knows and loves in Jamaica - and living with her strict aunt. Kadeen must lie low, as if she's recognised, she'll put them both in serious danger. Desperate for a distraction, Kadeen practises football in the local park where she's asked to try out for a girls' team. Kadeen thinks her aunt won't approve, so she keeps it secret, and finds herself part of a new family: the SW2s. But when Aunt Mel finds out, she is furious and bans Kadeen from playing. Can she convince her aunt to let her play her way to the top with the SW2s and avoid attracting the crime lord's attention?

WELCOME TO CRONGTON, WHERE YOUR LOYALTY AND WITS WILL BE TESTED ...*As seen on BBC iPlayer*What's worse than hiding a secret? Liccle Bit's about to find out...Venetia King is the hottest girl at school. Too bad Lemar is the second shortest guy in his year. Everyone calls him Liccle Bit, and his two best friends, McKay and Jonah, never tire of telling him he has no chance with girls. Things aren't much better at home. His mum is permanently hassled, his sister a frustrated single mum and his dad moved out years ago. Liccle Bit wishes he could do something - anything! - to make life better. A new phone would be a start... When Venetia starts paying Liccle Bit attention, he secretly hopes he's on a fast track to a first date. Unfortunately, as a new gang war breaks out, he finds himself on a fast track to something much more sinister. South Crongton's notorious gang leader has taken an interest in Liccle Bit. Before he knows what's happening, he finds himself running errands. But when he hears about a killing on the estate, Liccle Bit is forced to question his choices. How can he possibly put things right?

Winner of the Guardian Children Fiction's Prize 2016Shortlisted for the YA Book Prize 2017WELCOME TO CRONGTON, WHERE YOUR LOYALTY AND WITS WILL BE TESTED ...Living on the South Crongton council estate has its worries - and life for McKay has been even tougher since his mum died. His dad has been working all hours to keep the bailiffs from their door. His brother is always out riding the streets at night, tempting trouble. And now, having strayed off his turf on a 'heroic' (if misguided) mission to help out a girl, McKay finds himself facing a friend's crazy ex-boyfriend, some power-tripping hood-rats and a notoriously violent gangster with a vendetta which hits too close to home.Poor McKay. He never asked for trouble . . . But during one madcap night of adventure and danger, he will find out who his true friends are, what it means to stick with your family and that, sometimes, the lessons learned the hard way are the ones you'll never forget.'... powerful writing by an author with great talent and great heart.' David Almond

***Shortlisted for the YA Book Prize***WELCOME TO CRONGTON, WHERE YOUR LOYALTY AND WITS WILL BE TESTED ... Round these ends, it's hard to hold on to your dreams.Life's a constant hustle for Mo. Her mum's boyfriend Lloyd is just another man who likes to beat down women; the South Crong streets are fraught with hazards and nasty G's; and when it comes to matters of the heart . . . she's still hung up on Sam.No wonder she's vexed so much of the time. Thank god her sistrens, Elaine and Naomi, are on her side: if one of them falls then they all fall.But when badness goes down and a life is left hanging in the balance, Mo has to face her hot urge for revenge . . . and she might end up losing more than she wins.'full of humour and tenderness' Patrice Lawrence

'This isn't my home. Haven't had a proper home since ...This is just somewhere I'll be resting my bones for a week and maybe a bit. This time next year you'll forget who I am. I haven't got a diddly where I'll be by then. But I'm used to it'Naomi has bounced around the care system for far too long. When she's placed with the Goldings, an emergency foster home, her expectations are already on the floor. But sometimes connections find you where you least expect them.Home Girl is fast-paced and funny, tender, tragic and full of courage - just like Naomi. It is award-winning author Alex Wheatle's most moving and personal novel to date.'Studded with Wheatle's characteristic slang, Naomi's story is both heartbreaking and hilarious, offering no easy happy endings, but a flickering sense of hope.' Guardian

"This novel will be nostalgia trip for anyone who grew up in similar circumstances and a breath of fresh Jamaican air for anyone else" The Voice Jenny and Hortense Rodney have always loved and hated one another in the way that only sisters can. From their childhood in Claremont, rural Jamaica, to working life amid the hustle and bustle of Trenchtown, they are the turning point in a multi-generational tale.Enticed by the possibilities of the colonial "motherland", the sisters move to England and settle in the bleak streets of Brixton, only to find that this land of opportunity is instead one that will stretch their fractious relationship to breaking point . . . A hauntingly beautifully evocation of twentieth-century Jamaica and the Brixton of the Windrush generation, Island Songs is an epic of love, laughter and sorely tested family loyalties. By the author of Brixton Rock, East of Acre Lane and Homeboys, and several bestselling, prizewinning novels for younger readers"Island Songs grabs your heart " Independent"Alex Wheatle has a real talent for understated, convincing dialogue" Big Issue

In this breathtaking memoir, acclaimed writer Alex Wheatle shows how music became his salvation

"Pacy; witty; his characters are real and recognisable" LINTON KWESI JOHNSON"Alex Wheatle is the real deal; he writes with heart and authenticity, books that make you laugh and worry and cry and hold your breath" KIT DE WAAL"Alex Wheatle writes from a place of honesty and passion" STEVE McQUEEN, director of Small AxeSouth London in the 1980s. Sixteen-year-old Brenton Brown is the mixed-race child of a mother he has never met. He's been living in a children's home all his life, and when he is unexpectedly reunited with his mother, Cynthia, his whole world seems poised to change. The best thing happens: Brenton has a family at last.And then the worst: Brenton falls in love with his beautiful half-sister, Juliet.As tensions brew in Brixton, Brenton finds himself embroiled in a violent feud with a killer. Vengeance seems like the only option as Brenton hurtles towards an explosive climax which will risk everything.Brixton Rock is the extraordinary debut of one of the UK's finest writers, a pitch-perfect depiction of South London life."A triumph . . . This is a debut which confirms its author is a pro in prose" The Times

"A rich layering of motive and emotion . . . robust dialogue, streetwise humour and muscular, mischievous vernaculour" IndependentSet on the streets of Brixton, south London, BRENTON BROWN is a fatal love story about a man who never got over his first love, a perfect love with his half-sister Juliet that has left him unable to form any real relationships since they both decided it must end."Wheatle's dialogue sings" GuardianJuliet is consumed by guilt because she knows that her half-brother, Brenton, grew up in children's homes with no family to speak of, while she received all her mother's love. She has a career with good prospects in politics, and has married Clayton, a successful banker, to please her mother. He treats her daughter, Breanna, like his own - but secretly he has always suspected that there has been something going on between Juliet and Brenton.Unable to let go physically or emotionally, Brenton takes the advice of his longstanding friend Floyd, and decides to start a new life in another country. When their good intentions fail, Juliet and Brenton must pay the ultimate price.A story about family ties, forbidden love and life, BRENTON BROWN is shot through with robust humour, unforgettable characters, unerringly pitched dialogue and towering emotion.

'Alex Wheatle writes from a place of honesty and passion with the full knowledge and understanding that change can only happen through words and actions' - Steve McQueen Four schoolchildren decide to run away from the the horrors of their everyday lives in a children's home. Seeking asylum in the woods, they enjoy the exhilaration of freedom and the first flush of adolescence. Yet the forest slowly asserts its own power and what happens out in the wild will affect the four boys' lives forever. With his compelling narrative directness, rhythmic prose, and trademark humour, Alex Wheatle shows himself to be an author of real calibre, exposing the social stigma associated with children's homes, and the horrifying psychological consequences of their impact on children at the most sensitive stage. Never losing pace or failing to engage the reader at every moment, Home Boys is an unflinchingly honest depiction of disrupted childhoods.

"Another powerful and poignant novel deftly created by one of the most prolific master novelists on either side of the pond. Home Girl is a page-turner, with not a dull moment. Loved it from the rooter to the tooter." --Eric Jerome Dickey, New York Times best-selling author of Before We Were WickedNew from the best-selling black British author Alex Wheatle, Home Girl is the story of Naomi, a teenage girl growing up fast in the foster care system. It is a wholly modern story which sheds a much-needed light on what can be an unsettling life--and the consequences that follow when children are treated like pawns on a family chessboard. Home Girl is fast-paced and funny, tender, tragic, and full of courage--just like Naomi. This is Alex Wheatle's most moving and personal novel to date.

"Wheatle brings the struggle of slavery in the Jamaican sugar cane fields to life...A refreshing and heartbreaking story that depicts both a real-life uprising against oppression and the innate desire to be free. Highly recommended." --School Library Journal, STARRED review"Alex Wheatle departs from his award-winning contemporary novels for a superb foray into historical fiction...Wheatle's characteristic kennings and coinages...heighten this intense, affecting story of courage, bloodshed and commitment to freedom at al costs." --The Guardian (UK)"Cane Warriors centers the voice of the enslaved rather than white abolitionists. In this way, readers face the reality of enslaved people who fought for their own freedom." --Worlds of Words"I read it in one sitting. I simply could not put it down. Cane Warriors is such a powerful narrative of trauma and triumph...Wheatle celebrates the heroism that Tacky inspires. He tells the riveting story of 14-year-old Moa who bravely joins Tacky's army." --The Gleaner (Jamaica), recommended by Carolyn Cooper"Set in 1760, Cane Warriors, the latest young adult novel by Alex Wheatle, is a fictional account of a key but often overlooked event in Jamaican history: Tacky's Rebellion, a major revolt by enslaved Africans, planned via an island-wide conspiracy. In Wheatle's narrative, a 14-year-old named Moa is caught up in the growing revolt, driven by a fierce desire for freedom and self-determination." --Saturday Express (Trinidad & Tobago) "Tension-filled and heart-stopping, a work of edgy brilliance that brims with existential fervor...Excellent." --Kaieteur News (Guyana)"This is a harrowing young adult novel; still, it is based on true history, and the story needs to be told. The brave freedom fighters of Tacky's Rebellion should be remembered and honored...Recommended." --Historical Novels Review "Alex Wheatle writes from a place of honesty and passion, with the full knowledge and understanding that change can only happen through words and actions." --Steve McQueen, Academy Award-winning film directorMoa is fourteen. The only life he has ever known is toiling on the Frontier sugarcane plantation for endless hot days, fearing the vicious whips of the overseers. Then one night he learns of an uprising, led by the charismatic Tacky. Moa is to be a cane warrior, and fight for the freedom of all the enslaved people in the nearby plantations. But before they can escape, Moa and his friend Keverton must face their first great task: to kill their overseer, Misser Donaldson. Time is ticking as the day of the uprising approaches . . . Irresistible, gripping, and unforgettable, Cane Warriors follows the true story of Tacky's War in Jamaica, 1760.

--Selected for the In the Margins Book Awards 2024 Top Ten Title List and 2024 Nonfiction Recommendation List "In this inspiring, often harrowing narrative, the author chronicles how, shortly after he turned 3, he was abandoned by his parents and placed in the care of the government. That led to a childhood of physical and sexual abuse on top of the racism and police brutality he experienced growing up in Brixton, England, in the 1970s and '80s . . . As dark as his early memories are, Wheatle describes his reggae memories with glimmers of hope and appreciation . . . A striking tribute to reggae's ability to protect a fragile soul when seemingly everything else had failed him." --Kirkus Reviews, Starred ReviewAbandoned as a baby to the British foster care system, Alex Wheatle grew up without any knowledge of his Jamaican parentage or family history. Preoccupied with his own roots, Alex grew inexorably drawn to reggae music, which became his primary solace through years of physical and mental abuse in a children's home. Although riven by loneliness and depression, Alex found joy and empathy among his reggae heroes: Dennis Brown, Bob Marley, Marcia Griffiths, the Mighty Diamonds, Sister Nancy, Gregory Isaacs, Barrington Levy, King Yellowman, and so many others. These were friends and mentors who understood the enormous challenges facing a young Black man, gave purpose to despair, provided a sense of belonging when Alex had no one, and who educated him in ways no school ever could. From the abuse he suffered in foster care, to the challenges he faced on the streets of South London as a young man and his eventual imprisonment for participating in the legendary 1981 Brixton uprising against racial injustice, reggae music always provided a lifeline to Alex. Alex's life story was portrayed in Oscar Award-winning director Steve McQueen's 2020 Small Axe. In Sufferah, he vividly tells his own story, putting the reader in his shoes through the many challenges of his younger years, answering the question: how on earth did he make it? By his example we are reminded that words can be our sustenance, and music can be our heartbeat.

A sharp, witty and heartfelt tale of the ups and downs of teenage life on one of London's toughest (fictional) estates, from multi-award-winning Alex Wheatle. Life on the Crongton estate can be rough for Briggy. Dad's lost his job, Mum's working so hard to make ends meet, and big brother Kingsley just wants out. With all of the shouting and arguing it's difficult not to get lost in the mix. So when his best mate Terror and coolest chick in the year Caldonia, cook up a plan to make a quick buck, Briggy hopes this time it might be his chance to shine. Robbing the Post Office … what could go wrong? Particularly suitable for readers aged 13+ with a reading age of 9.

Hilarity follows disaster in this sharp-witted tale of the trials of pre-teen life, from award-winning and critically acclaimed Crongton author Alex Wheatle. Welton Blake has done it! He’s asked out Carmella McKenzie – the best-looking girl in school – and she’s only gone and said yes! But just as he thinks his luck is starting to change, Welton’s phone breaks, kick-starting a series of unfortunate and humiliating events. With bullies to avoid, girls ready to knock him out and all the drama with his mum and dad, life for Welton is about to go very, very wrong … Particularly suitable for readers aged 11+ with a reading age of 8.