Author:Peter Akinti
In a community where poverty is kept close and passed from one generation to the next, two teenage boys, best friends Ashvin and James, stand on top of twin tower blocks. Facing each other across the abyss of London's urban sprawl, they say their goodbyes in the final stages of a suicide pact. The boys jump together, each with a rope around his neck. Only Ashvin dies. James awakes in hospital, struggling with guilt and faced with his dysfunctional family, a well-meaning psychologist and, eventually, Ashvin's grieving sister Armeina.
Forest Gate is narrated by Armeina, a young refugee from Somalia who, with the death of her brother, suffers the loss of her entire family. As she tells the story of her brother's life and seeks to understand why he would kill himself, she finds herself drawn to James. Seeking comfort from each other, and desperate to rebuild their lives, James and Armeina form a special bond and together set out to find a place they can both call home.
Set in London, Somalia and Brazil, Peter Akinti's debut is a beautifully wrought, profoundly affecting and sometimes violent novel rich in the true history of our time. Armeina and James's journey towards life through their past is, ultimately, a powerful story of redemptive love.
A very bleak picture indeed, and very well told'
—— William Leith , ObserverTautly constructed, graphic, angry, powerful fiction
—— Catherine Taylor , The GuardianA powerful account of life among the dispossessed in contemporary east London
—— The London PaperBeautifully written first novel
—— The TimesAkinti shows us he is a competent craftsman
—— Trevor Lewis , Sunday TimesWritten in a clipped, street smart prose, Forest Gate is an assured debut... it is a study in cultural uprootedness and displacement, memorably documented by Akinti
—— Ian Thomson , Times Literary SupplementA short but densely textured read...James's gradual, fragile redemption...is very well conveyed. Peter Akinti is also good at conveying a sense of place
—— Brandon Robshaw , Independent on SundayI loved this book
—— Anne RobinsonA moving and compelling story ... authentic and impressive
—— Nicholas ColeridgeTo dive into a Wodehouse novel is to swim in some of the most elegantly turned phrases in the English language.
—— Ben SchottOgawa is original, elegant, very disturbing. I admire any writer who dares to work on this uneasy territory - we're on the edge of the unspeakable. The stories seem to penetrate right to the heart of the world, and find it a cold and eerie place. Her spare technique is very skilled. Every word is put to work. She sets up a small vibration, a disturbance, which begins quietly and generates wider and wider ripples of unease. There are no narrative tricks, but the stories generate a surprising amount of tension. You feel as if you've touched an icy hand
—— Hilary Mantel, author of Beyond BlackOgawa's tales possess a gnawing, erotic edge
—— Publishers WeeklyYoko Ogawa is able to give expression to the most subtle workings of human psychology in prose that is gentle yet penetrating.
—— Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel Prize Winning author of A Personal MatterEach well narrated and haunting novella, about love, obsession and dark humour, has an unpredictable twist of viciousness coupled with compassion
—— The Hindu
zpostcode
Recruit
weather
mreligion
Yellowpages
sport
constellation
shopping
name
game
directory
literature
Word
tour
furnish
Lottery
tftnews
lyrics
News
digital
car
dir
Edu
Finance
