In an East London borough, two second-generation immigrants search for a sense of identity and belonging amid a wave of online radicalisation and extremism. College student David survives through music and multiplayer video games. Attacked by his classmates for the controversial on-stage comments of his musical idol Karl Williams, he retreats into an online world of far-right ideologies and toxic masculinity. Hassan, too, is alienated from his friends, who drink, smoke weed and mock his volunteer work at the local mosque. As the young men struggle to find a path through a hostile-seeming world, their fates become tragically, catastrophically intertwined.
'A politically engaged, urgently plotted coming-of-age thriller with a wicked satirical streak' OBSERVER
'A brilliant dissection of race, identity, masculinity and extremism' MONICA ALI 'Riveting ... A blistering and prescient novel' FERDIA LENNON, author of Glorious Exploits
Author
About Nicolas Padamsee
Nicolas Padamsee grew up in Essex. He holds an MA and PhD in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia, and is one of the Observer's best new novelists for 2024. He is the editor of Arts Against Extremism. He splits his time between Norwich and Upton Park, London.
