Locks

De: Ashleigh Nugent

Narrado por: Ashleigh Nugent

‘1993 was the year that Stephen Lawrence got murdered by racists, and I became an angry Black lad with a “chip on his shoulder”’

Aeon, a mixed-up and mixed-race teenager from a leafy Liverpool suburb, is desperate to understand the Black identity thrust upon him. He grows dreadlocks and immerses himself in ‘gangsta’ rap. But Aeon’s journey of self-discovery is hampered by the fact that the only Black people in his life are his dad and his cousin, Increase.

Aeon’s ambition to find his place in the world takes him to Jamaica. Here, Aeon soon finds that smoking loads of weed, growing messy locks and wearing massive red boots don’t necessarily help him to fit in. Within days of his arrival he is mugged, arrested and banged up in a Jamaican detention centre. Seen as the ‘White boy’, he finds that his journey of self-discovery has only just begun – and he’s going to have to fight for the respect and recognition he deserves . . .

A coming-of-age comedy of errors, Locks is an electric debut novel about growing up, wising up, and finding your place in a world of opposites.
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'Blends humour and introspection, poetry and the poignant' - Derek Owusu, author of the Desmond Elliott Prize-winning That Reminds Me
'Irreverent, authentic and utterly enthralling. A wonderful book' - Jimmy McGovern, creator of the drama series Cracker
'Twisty, energetic, voice-led . . . Nugent is pure talent' - Raymond Antrobus, author of the Rathbones Folio Prize-winning The Perseverance
'Thought provoking and funny' - David Beckler, author of A Long Shadow

Reseñas de la Crítica

A search for meaning and the complicated expression of multiple cultures. Ashleigh is a born storyteller, able to blend humour and introspection, poetry and the poignant. (Derek Owusu, author of That Reminds Me)

I loved Locks. It’s a twisty, energetic, voice-led novel, written with humour and skill and drama . . . Like Virginia Woolf but from the ends. Nugent is pure talent, something else. (Raymond Antrobus, author of The Perseverance)

Thought-provoking and funny . . . perfectly captures the sense of being between two cultures, whilst never feeling fully part of either . . . full of larger-than-life characters who jump off the page. (David Beckler, author of A Long Shadow)

Irreverent, authentic and utterly enthralling. A wonderful book. (Jimmy McGovern, creator of Cracker)

It's just AMAZING! It's totally gripping, hilarious, wise and poignant . . . (Matt Lloyd Rose, author of Into the Night)

An adventure story like no other . . . Nugent has a fine talent for storytelling, but also for capturing truth. Locks is both funny, and psychologically astute, and really captures the nuanced dynamic between boys pushed to their emotional and physical limits through hardship and misunderstanding. (Lily Dunn, author of Sins of My Father)