The Bricks that Built the Houses - Kae Tempest

Kae Tempest’s critically acclaimed debut novel, the literary companion to his Mercury-Prize nominated album Everybody Down, takes us into the beating heart of the capital in this multi-generational tale of drugs, desire and belonging.

Young Londoners Becky, Harry and Leon are leaving town in a fourth-hand Ford Cortina with a suitcase full of money. They are running from jealous boyfriends, dead-end jobs, violent maniacs and disgruntled drug dealers, in the hope of escaping the restless tedium of life in south-east London – the place they have always called home. 

'Soaring … Tempest’s flair for language is tempered by their sense of rhythm and pace … Deeply affecting: cinematic in scope; touching in its empathic humanity … Tempest’s voice – by turns raging and tender – never falters'  New York Times