Nightcrawling
Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2022 - the youngest ever Booker nominee
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3.9 • 18 Ratings
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2022 – THE YOUNGEST EVER BOOKER NOMINEE
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
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'Mottley attempts to do for Oakland something of what The Wire did for Baltimore' THE TIMES
'A soul-searching portrait of survival and hope' OPRAH WINFREY
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When there is no choice, all you have left to do is walk.
Kiara Johnson does not know what it is to live as a normal seventeen-year-old. With her mother in a halfway house and an older brother who devotes his time and money to a recording studio, she fends for herself – and for nine-year-old Trevor, whose own mother is prone to disappearing for days at a time. As the landlord of their apartment block threatens to raise their rent, Kiara finds herself walking the streets after dark, determined to survive in a world that refuses to protect her.
Then one night Kiara is picked up by two police officers, and the gruesome deal she is offered in exchange for her freedom lands her at the centre of a media storm. If she agrees to testify in a grand jury trial, she could help expose the sickening corruption of a police department. But honesty comes at a price – one that could leave her family vulnerable to their retaliation, and endanger everyone she loves.
Nightcrawling is an unforgettable novel about young people navigating the darkest corners of an adult world, told with a humanity that is at once agonising and utterly mesmerising.
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'UNFORGETTABLE' GUARDIAN
'A MAGNIFICENT DEBUT' RUTH OZEKI, winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2022
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READERS CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF NIGHTCRAWLING
'Nightcrawling is a lyrical masterpiece' *****
'This book ripped my heart out' *****
'Unputdownable . . . From the first page I was hooked' *****
'This is a heart-achingly necessary book which will carve a hole in your soul and stay with you forever' *****
'It is rare to read a first novel so perfectly crafted' *****
'This is an absolute must-read. Five stars out of five' *****
'Completely gripping . . . This is going to be a huge bestseller' *****
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Prepare to be gutted by Leila Mottley’s poignant yet devastating debut. Teenager Kiara Johnson and her older brother, Marcus, are facing eviction from their Oakland apartment. Marcus dreams of becoming a famous rapper, but sweet, sensitive Kiara knows better. Without family to help the siblings out, Kiara turns to dangerous sex work, eventually becoming a key witness in a police department scandal. Inspired by true events, Mottley—a young Oakland poet who was practically the same age as her heroine when she wrote this book—finds beautiful words for the cruel economy of Kiara’s life. Nightcrawling can be heartwrenching to read, but it’s even harder to put down.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mottley, Oakland's former Youth Poet Laureate, debuts with a bold and beautiful account of two Black siblings striving to thrive and survive. Seventeen-year-old Kiara and her older brother, Marcus, have been on their own since their single mother was convicted of negligent homicide three years earlier. When the landlord raises the rent on their Oakland studio apartment, Kiara grows desperate. Marcus is no help; he can't hold down a job while he chases dreams of becoming a hip-hop star. Kiara turns a few tricks—at first, just enough to pay the rent and buy groceries for her and the neighbor's son she's taking care of. But soon Kiara is caught up in a sex-trafficking ring servicing Bay Area cops, and her world collapses when the scandal goes public. Mottley powerfully chronicles Kiara's desperation and her bravery, as well as her determination to keep moving forward despite the crushing torrent of losses affecting her family as well as those of everyone she knows. Scenes of realism are rendered with a poet's eye, as Kiara experiences moments of beauty and joy by tagging an underpass wall with spray paint, learning to swim in a dirty pool, and finding shelter in the arms of a friend. This heartrending story makes for a powerful testament to a Black woman's resilience.
