Incredible. The story is completely gripping and expertly paced, the characterisation is rounded and complex, especially the different relationships between characters. I'm in awe of how fully the nuances of the relationships come through in such small details that speak large. And the language - oh my - what an impressive range of registers Moses hits with such beauty in the lyrical bits, such music in the dialogue, and such efficiency throughout. Zero fluff. -- Melissa Fu, author of PEACH BLOSSOM SPRING It’s written so beautifully, I love the characters, I love their interactions with each other, I appreciate how so many of them were flawed but (murder aside I guess) it wasn’t overbearing at all… I don’t know the story just WORKS bro!!!! Rather than being a character or plot driven book, I feel like this was a writing driven book for me (if that makes sense?). I thought the prose was beautiful but I didn't really connect with any of the characters and I didn't feel the emotions I think the author intended for the reader to feel. The sad scenes didn't affect me in the way that they usually do and I just don't think this book was really for me. No, I can’t imagine writing about any of the characters again, but I’m adapting it into a screenplay at the moment. But regarding writing another book, I’ve got too many ideas I want to do outside of this, rather than revisit this.

An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie | Hachette UK

As with “Who They Was” or “Mad and Furious City” (and the book will draw comparisons to both and sits somewhere in the middle of them) one’s ability to appreciate the book will partly correlate with one’s ability to follow the language (which for me was not an issue but I think may well be for others). 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).I would be keen to meet both Shona and Sayon again in the future; do you think you might bring them into future novels, considering how you concluded it? Moses has won the 2023 Hawthornden Prize for Literature, a 2023 Somerset Maugham Award, and the Soho House Breakthrough Writer Award in 2022. I did feel like the reflections when living with the Pastor could have been shorter and I found my eyes skipping over some of that, but really not very much and that’s a weak criticism at best. 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).

An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie | Waterstones An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie | Waterstones

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. 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: 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.

Book Summary

Right from the start, this book highlighted how family driven the story was with the family tree on the cover (genius idea by the way), seeing how Sayon related to different members of his family who had different religions, cultural believes, focus and even different fears. We see him question what it means to be good or bad employing different ideologies, it was just amazing to read!

An Olive Grove in Ends - BookBrowse An Olive Grove in Ends - BookBrowse

My mama used to bring me to this house when I wasn’t much older than a toddler. We wouldn’t come inside – she wasn’t as brazen as Cuba and me – we would only drive to the gate, and she would point up at the windows and tell me how she would imagine herself looking out of them when she was but a child herself. For Sayon life is about making enough money to buy that house on the hill, one he saw as a child, and he has never let go of that dream. Life is also about family for Sayon, as the reader instantly surmises when viewing the family tree at the beginning of the novel. With so many uncles and cousins involved in the drug trade it’s hard for him to imagine another life but if he wants a life with Shona he will ultimately have to find a way out. 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. A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy. In return, Sayon wants to give the people he loves the world: a house atop a grand hill in the most affluent area of the city, a home in which they can forever find joy and safety. But after an altercation in which a boy is killed, Sayon finds his loyalties torn and his dream of a better life in peril.At the heart of the novel is a love story between Sayon and Shona. Both are children of priests – one, Pastor Hughes, is the patriarch of an extended criminal family renowned for their violence, and the other, Pastor Lyle, though sceptical about his daughter’s boyfriend, is “a man who had dragged the darkness from his past”, and sees something of himself in Sayon. Pastor Lyle believes the yute is a candidate for compassion, even if his love for Shona will not cover the multitude of his sins. Sayon is also, believes his cousin Hakim – a proselytising Muslim – primed for religious conversion. His family was the only one older than mine in the city. We knew each other well and demonstrated our respect through patronage. I gave him an extra tenner each visit and dropped a couple of pounds in the charity box I knew he took a cut from. A rare glimpse into the harsh realities of street life and love in luminous prose, rendered with sensitivity and without sentimentalism. An astonishing debut' Cherie Jones, author of HOW THE ONE-ARMED SISTER SWEEPS HER HOUSE My only complaint is that it was excessive with the character Pastor Lyle. Other than that, it's worth the read. The water that ran from pond to pond had no foul smell. It was lazy, like a river of clarified honey. I thought if I knelt to taste it I might have refreshed myself after such a disappointing day, but Cuba had other ideas. He pointed towards the house. ‘Yo, you wanna see what’s inside?’

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

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” What I love about this is that the violence that is such a big part of his world often dominates similar books, but in this novel it doesn't, the treat of violence is there and there's some very violent scenes, but the focus of the novel is on the society pressures, the relationships and the role of religion and that allows this man to fall in love with a woman, make friends and contrast what they're saying with his family and show how that makes him feel trapped.Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. – Matthew 7:13 – 14 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. You know man’s gonna live here someday, cuz,’ I announced. Cuba screwed his face; he didn’t mean to doubt me, but he wasn’t accustomed to dreams. ‘How you gonna buy dis yard, akh? You need white people ps to buy dis – big man ting.’ ‘Don’t watch dat,’ I told him. ‘Man’ll find a way, truss me.’ Dey’ll fix it before you buy it, g, don’t worry,’ Cuba grinned, ‘and if dey don’t, I’ll send you some ps to cover it. It’s calm, bro. We’re in dis together, remember? Come, fam.’ He swept the broken slivers from the window with his sleeve and we wriggled through a slit wide enough only for ten-year-old boys. He’d had to push them up to his elbow to keep them in place. Cuba handed me one as I handed him some food from a cupboard.