An Olive Grove in Ends
The dazzling debut novel about love, faith and community, by an electrifying new voice
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- £8.99
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- £8.99
Publisher Description
*** ONE OF THE OBSERVER'S 10 MUST-READ DEBUT NOVELISTS OF 2022 ***
'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.
MORE PRAISE FOR AN OLIVE GROVE IN ENDS:
'Announcing the arrival of a promising 23-year-old author whose work is wise beyond his years' GUARDIAN
'A remarkable debut, bristling with sharp prose and daring originality' Nathan Harris, author of THE SWEETNESS OF WATER
'A phenomenally good novel, tense and thrilling and complex, with breath-stealing moments on every page' Donal Ryan, author of THE SPINNING HEART
'This consummately crafted work can only be a harbinger of a stellar and truly significant career. I urge you to read it' Patrick McCabe, author of THE BUTCHER BOY
'Engrossing . . . A tough yet tender story of faith and friendship' OBSERVER
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
McKenzie's beautiful debut, set in a predominantly British Jamaican neighborhood of Bristol, England, exhibits both a tenderness for the residents and an unflinching examination of their struggles. Sayon Hughes has fantasized since he was a child about owning a house outside the city. Despite early academic promise, Sayon has grown disillusioned after his school years with the almost impossible project of saving enough money through legitimate means, so, like several of his former classmates and relatives, he's turned to dealing drugs. Then, Sayon kills a man who is assaulting his cousin Cuba. Wracked with guilt and the fear that his longtime girlfriend, Shona Jennings, will split if she finds out, he tries to go straight, moving into Shona's parents' house, only to encounter hypocrisy and cruelty from her pastor father. Questions of faith and its manifestations predominate in the novel's second half, as Sayon grapples with whether to remain in the Christian church of his youth or to start anew with Islam. McKenzie renders the neighborhood's rich and complicated social and familial networks as a study in contrasts, where violence and betrayal coexist with generosity and kindness. It's a gorgeous debut that nurtures an unlikely sort of hope that's predicated on countless losses.
