Keeping the House

Shortlisted for the 2022 Jhalak Prize

Shortlisted for the 2022 Desmond Elliott Prize

Shortlisted for the 2022 British Book Awards, Book of the Year Discover Award

Longlisted for the 2022 Gordon Burn Prize

Longlisted for the 2022 Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize

Winner of a 2022 Somerset Maugham Award

The Turkish variety are prized for their enlarged leaf bud, that's where we put the heroin...

Imagine a cabbage: at its centre is North London's Turkish heroin trade, and the overlapping leaves are the stories of its players. There's Damla, a Turkish-Cypriot girl growing up in Tottenham, and her mother Ayla, who moved there from North Cyprus in the aftermath of the 1985 Broadwater Farm riots. There's Mehmet, a mover in the trade, and Ali, who's got big hopes for Ayla.

A bewitching debut that lifts the lid on a covert world, Keeping the House is a dynamic, electric introduction to a fascinating new voice.