Bricks that built the houses (Bloomsbury Publishing)

Becky, Harry and Leon are leaving town in a fourth-hand Ford Cortina with a suitcase full of money. They are running from jealous boyfriends, dead-end jobs, violent maniacs and disgruntled drug dealers, in the hope of escaping the restless tedium of life in south-east London. As the story moves back in time, to before they had to leave, we see them torn between confidence and self-loathing, between loneliness and desire, between desperate ambition and the terrifying prospect of getting nothing done.Kate Tempest explores contemporary city life with a powerful moral microscope, giving us irresistible stories of hidden lives and showing us how the best intentions don't always lead to the right decisions'Deeply affecting: cinematic in scope; touching in its empathic humanity... Tempest's voice never falters' New York Times'A bold, bright, beguiling novel; a lustrous pageant that dazzles and grips... An irresistible, immersive snapshot of a changing world... Unstoppable' Sunday Telegraph