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An Olive Grove in Ends: The dazzling debut novel about love, faith and community, by an electrifying new voice

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Cuba put his arms across his little chest and huffed in the manner of a man about to embark upon yet another noble quest. ‘Say no more, g, but if you’re gonna buy it den man’ll help you, init. Dat’s what family’s for.’ A reedy voice came from behind me: ‘Yo, scuse me.’ The two yutes were waiting to leave. The boy who spoke looked at me through hooded eyes, unsure of what resistance I would provide. The other yute hung at his arm and glared, but didn’t offer a word. Yeah, I wanted it to be very internal. And even in the firstdraft it was very meandering. We spend a lot of time in Sayon’s world, in his mind, and everything is limited by his perception of things and of people. But Cuba is my favourite character by far. He’s the character that I have the most time for, the most compassion for, that I had to remind myself not to be too compassionate about. But I think portraying their relationship was one of the best things about writing the novel for me. That was intentional as well: perspective limiting or limiting what we see. My cousin Winnie called the street itself home. She slept on the Baptist church steps and begged cigarette stubs from the gutter. She said she found the gutter more giving than the people passing, but maybe the people passing had nutun left to give.

AN OLIVE GROVE IN ENDS | Kirkus Reviews AN OLIVE GROVE IN ENDS | Kirkus Reviews

WINNER: HAWTHORNDEN PRIZE 2023; SOMERSET MAUGHAM AWARD 2023;SOHO HOUSE BREAKTHROUGH WRITER AWARD 2022 It’s a novel about class and status as well as race and religion: this covers a great deal of socio-political scope. Was this the intention?In this novel, my favorite character is Nanny. Nanny is authentic and raw. Nanny is not ratting her drug-dealing grandbaby out to the police. She’s gonna cook you a big breakfast even after you’ve made her upset. Nanny loves you unconditionally. Sayon’s long term girlfriend is Shona, now an up-and-coming music agent/producer she is also the daughter of a pastor – Lyle Jennings. Lyle’s Baptist church is more fundamentalist, and bible based than Errol’s more charismatic church and Shona is much closer to her parents than Sayon (in fact still living at home in a relatively idealistic home set up – note than we only really see Shona through Sayon’s eyes so we realise that her character and set up are idealised by him). Two officers stood beside the tape ready to hurry any gawkers along, but since this wasn’t Clifton, the scene was hardly worth much more than a passing glance. The road was patrolled by young and old: abtis arranged tables outside cafes, serving tea from pans; they peered into the faces of young hijabis, trying to find a likeness and match daughter to hooyo. Their sons and nephews stood outside corner shops and met at park benches, and together with my cousins, they were watched by the disapproving eyes of our respective elders.

An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie | Hachette UK

We spent the entire afternoon chasing the shadows of those white horses, but we didn’t catch the swish of a tail, nor the print of a hoof. We returned to the house-atop-the-hill downcast and defeated. I found my place in the tree again, and Cuba took up the twigs.The book’s skilful, knife-edge climax has a cinematic tension, fuelled by the sad inevitability of a life lived on the streets. As Sayon’s trouble-making cousin Cuba says: “Once you’re fully in dis world only a few can leave fam.” Brutal in places but always beautiful, An Olive Grove in Ends is a bullishly brilliant debut by a young author with a very bright future. The storytelling was told in Jamaican patois, which was difficult to read as text, but easier to understand if heard on audio. That narrator was fabulous. I will say the story was just average and fizzled out in the middle for me. It felt like a crime-romance-memoir-cultural critique-all-in-one piece to me. I wanted more development. You know deh’s horses in the woods, init?’ I said, repeating what my mama had told me all those years ago. But with all of this fairly distinctive language – the book also lapses into literary technique which is not just more conventional but I felt out of place in literary fiction. A number of chapters end with a heavily telegraphed transitions “I sought a moment’s comfort elsewhere”, “a familiar memory came to mind, “in the first year of secondary school, I almost [lost Shona]” or dramatic cliffhangers/revelations “I saw you kill that boy the other night”

An Olive Grove in Ends: The dazzling debut novel about love An Olive Grove in Ends: The dazzling debut novel about love

She would cycle into Clifton and across the Suspension Bridge just to look at the yard. There were other houses on the road, for it was narrow with many mansions, but it was this one that caught her eye. It was the furthest from the street, she explained, as far from the hustle and bustle as one could get. Luminous prose, rendered with sensitivity and without sentimentalism. An astonishing debut’ Cherie Jones, author of HOW THE ONE-ARMED SISTER SWEEPS HER HOUSE From 1st July 2021, VAT will be applicable to those EU countries where VAT is applied to books - this additional charge will be collected by Fed Ex (or the Royal Mail) at the time of delivery. Shipments to the USA & Canada: I had never entered the adolescent stage of thinking myself immortal. My mortality was as real to me as the soil I shovelled onto the aunts, uncles and cousins we buried. That was one of the downfalls of having a large family: the funerals outnumbered even the weddings.

I was so intrigued by its Cover and I had to read it. It was a Wonderful choice and has become another on my Favorite list. Perhaps the most impressive thing about this novel is the fact that it was penned by a young man in his early 20s. This is also arguably its greatest weakness, but the strengths predominate. As debut novels go, this one is better than average. Which brings me to my final issue – as with “Who They Was” I think some readers may struggle to sympathise with Sayon’s worldview and the didactic way in which it seems to justify say selling drugs to homeless people as exactly equivalent to a religious group feeding or clothing them, as well as the constant violence and criminal activities which can be justified due to injustices against past generations. To everything there may have been a season, but some things remained unchanged and I wouldn’t rest until I owned that house-atop-the-hill.

An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie | Hachette UK An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie | Hachette UK

We spent the evening exploring the house, eating from the fridge and napping on the beds. We lived like kings until the day grew old and voices came from outside, adult voices. Cuba gripped my arm and we crept to the front door. Conversations take place in British and Islam flavored Jamaican Patois that readers of Marlon James will be somewhat familiar with but will possibly have to look up a few new words. I never found it in any way a hinderance to the flow of the novel. I set the novel in the area I was raised in. So the inspiration is just the area itself, you know, my home is the inspiration. I don’t mean my home as in my literal house. My home, as in my area and then the neighbouring area. I didn’t have to sit down and think about setting and place because that was what I lived. And then I wrote it for my little cousin. His engrossing first-person narrative, lyrical and slangy by turns, is the vehicle for a tough yet tender story of faith and friendship, as well as money, knife crime and the failings of the British education system * Observer New Review, 10 Best Debut Novelists of 2022 * This book has a very strong sense of place – set in the Stapleton Road area, described by Wikipedia as “a major thoroughfare in the English city of Bristol, running through the districts of Lawrence Hill and Easton. It is known for being very culturally diverse with many esoteric shops. However since the mid 20th century it has gained a reputation for having a high crime rate”.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. There are roads in neighbourhoods like mine all across the country. Broad roads. Without mansions. In England they have names like City Road or High Street, except this road was called Stapleton, and those familiar with her charm might call her Stapes. I assumed the old man was with the greenery and that he wouldn’t be long, so I tended the shop to pass the time. It would do well to take my mind from things. This book featured in the 2022 version of the influential annual Observer Best Debut Novelist feature (past years have included Natasha Brown, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Douglas Stuart, Sally Rooney and Gail Honeyman among many others). Luminous prose, rendered with sensitivity and without sentimentalism. An astonishing debut' Cherie Jones, author of HOW THE ONE-ARMED SISTER SWEEPS HER HOUSE

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