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Skinheads
Skinheads
Aug 2, 2025 7:36 AM

Author:John King

Skinheads

Skinheads is the story of a way of life, told through three generations of a family: Terry English, original ska-loving skinhead and boss of a mini-cab firm; Nutty Ray, street-punk skin and active football hooligan; and Lol, son of Terry, nephew of Ray, a fifteen-year-old kid just starting out.

Terry is sick and not sure he's going to make his fiftieth birthday, but is kept going by his music, his lovely assistant Angie, and his discovery of the abandoned Union Jack Club, which he decides to clean up and re-open. Ray, meanwhile, is out driving mini-cabs and struggling to control his anger - his only release: days out with Chelsea's finest. But when he takes the law into his own hands in an explosion of righteous violence, his future starts to darken.

Reviews

King...offers a nuanced argument for skinhead culture

—— Arena

An energetic and technically adroit writer

—— Sunday Telegraph

King's achievement since his debut has been enormous: creating a modern, proletarian English literature at once genuinely modern, genuinely proletarian, genuinely English and genuinely literature. His novels immerse his readers in the stream of consciousness of people who, as routinely depicted in the media, barely have consciousness at all

—— Independent

King is a master of idiom and street slang. He speaks with a voice that appears to be the true expression of disaffected white British youth

—— The Times

Beaumont has spread his wings with Small World, ditching the out and out comedy for some sharp social analysis, but retaining his knack for a witty, punchy story

—— Metro

Heartfelt story of illicit love ... What's so interesting about Addonia's novel, though, is that it shows a man suffering from the consequences of the repression of women ... The frustration and loneliness he experiences living in a male-oriented world are powerfully depicted, as are the inertia, corruption and hypocrisy that flourish when morality is regulated by the state

—— Literary Review

This tale of forbidden passion is tense and provocative... Compelling

—— Maire Claire

An intense and moving glimpse into a world where love is an impossible dream

—— The Times

Beautifully written, with an imaginative and poetic narrative style

—— Aesthetica

A treat for literature lovers who appreciate complexity in their novels and aren't afraid to deal with tough topics

—— Library Journal

Harvey's novel bravely reimagines the horrors of Alzheimer's from within the ever-narrowing parameters of an architect's mind

—— New York Times

Closer to Virginia Woolf's meditative novels than anything else I can think of

—— Washington Post

A forensic examination of loss and misunderstanding, a paean to the vital force of stories, and an incredibly moving look at a sword of Damocles that hangs over us all.

—— Tom Webber , Observer

Harvey shows her remarkable powers of empathy and her no less remarkable literary skill. To write about a disordered mind is to court the danger of creating a work that is itself disordered. But from start to finish her control is absolute....I can think of few more distinguished literary debuts in recent years

—— Francis King , Literary Review

Moving, convincing, adroit- it is a remarkably accomplished first novel and a beautiful jacket

—— Susan Hill , The Lady

Harvey's is certainly the outstanding fictional debut to have come my way this year

—— Francis King , The Oldie

Intricately and delicately woven

—— Lucy Atkins , Sunday Times

Impressive first novel [which] plays some original tricks with narrative

—— Ophelia Field , Sunday Telegraph Magazine

An extremely gifted writer

—— Independent on Sunday

Deeply original and captivating...The lyrical power of these shifting and competing narratives is matched by the absolute emotional realism of Jake's own desperate plight: his shame and anger and impotence are devastatingly recorded. And yet this is not a depressing novel, but rather one so full of urgent life that it rouses even as it terrifies.

—— Olivia Laing , The Observer

Many novels have documented the trials of living with dementia, but this mind-bending debut throws us straight into the skewed recesses of a sufferer's brain... An exhilarating trip, but for the thought that this is a place some of us might visit one day.

—— Emma Hagestadt , Independent
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