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TURF
  • Published: 2 August 2012
  • ISBN: 9781448119899
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 400

TURF

Formats & editions
EBook
2 Aug 2012
Paperback
15 June 2013
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A boy caught up in an urban gang is forced to kill. Now he must face the consequences.

Jay is fifteen years old and a member of the Blake Street Boyz gang. With a knife in his pocket and his best friend Milk by his side, he spends his time fiercely defending their turf. He takes his lessons from the streets and thinks he knows everything about choices.

Choose the right gang, and they will protect you. Choose the right clothes, the right chat, the right snacks and you will be respected. But now he's coming of age and he's being given the chance to step up. He must stab and kill a member of a rival gang... and there are no choices left.

This is a story set against the backdrop of London's inner-city tower blocks, where killing can be easier than choosing a chocolate bar; where gang violence rules, and where loyalty can cost you your soul.
  • Published: 2 August 2012
  • ISBN: 9781448119899
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 400
Categories:

About the author

John Lucas

John Lucas was born in East London. His debut novel Turf came out in August 2012. The book is based on John’s own experiences of growing up in Hackney – he has been a victim of and witness to multiple acts of street violence. The short story at the back of this book, TROUBLE, is a reimagining of the London riots through the eyes of characters from Turf. The youngest of six boys, John comes from a large family of writers and artists, although he originally followed a different path by working in TV and video post-production for a number of years. John began to develop an interest in writing in his mid-twenties and studied a degree in Creative Writing at Middlesex University. John lives in London.
JL

Praise for TURF

Turf is not an easy read and it doesn't offer any easy answers. Because there aren't any. But it what does do, is get to the heart of the matter. And that's something worthwhile. Don't you think? Published on the anniversary of the 2011 riots, this is a harrowing but illuminating read

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=Turf_by_John_Lucas, Bookbag

A poignant gritty read, John Lucas' debut novel captures the brutal experience of gang culture among vulnerable city tenagers.

Wales on Sunday

A poignant, gritty read, John Lucas's debut novel captures the brutal experience of gang culture among vulnerable city teenagers, exposing not only their heinous deeds, but a society that allows children to feel unloved and excluded.

Yorkshire Post

An exceptionally powerful debut novel; John Lucas is a writer to watch.

Books for Keeps

Fifteen-year-old Jaylon is a member of the east London Blake Street Boyz gang. His every life choice is subject to its laws, right down to what chocolate bar he eats. To move up to the senior level, the Olders, he must stab someone from a rival gang. He's not keen, but it's not a choice "kill or die". Turf strongly resembles last year's Pigeon English but with a slightly older cast, and instead of a mystical pigeon, a tramp called Leo who dispenses crazy wisdom. It might just be all the pills and weed, but soon Jaylon is talking to people who might not be there, having visions and being lectured by the hologram of Jesus that hangs on his aunt's wall. The "turf" he fights over takes on a spiritual dimension. Lucas cleverly contrasts the banality of school life with the brutal code of the streets as Jaylon ricochets between them towards a nail-biting finale. An exhilarating, tragic tale and a terrific debut.

Suzi Feay, Financial Times

Lucas is good at capturing the claustrophobic world that Jay is ensnared in, where his possibilities and aspirations are crushed by byzantine street rules that even dictate what chocolate bar he buys. Jay makes for a lively, intelligent, wryly funny narrator. The fact he can see the hopelessness of his situation makes his tragic trajectory all the more poignant.

Siobhan Murphy, Metro

The Blake Street Boyz gang means everything to 15-year-old Jay and his friends, spending dinner times and evenings defending their turf, but his life takes a not-altogether-unexpected turn when he has to prove himself to leader Shads.

Hull Daily Mail

This compelling story sheds light on the lives of a group of disaffected young people, for whom life is cheap and belonging to a gang is everything. It is about loyalty, love, making choices and living with the consequences. An astounding and thought-provoking novel, which contains violence, sex and strong language, it is violent, shocking and heartbreaking.

Booktrust

TURF is a fantastic, heart breaking, emotional and gritty novel. Utterly realistic and completely devastating it was one of the best and hardest novels I've read this year.

The Review Diaries