Here by contrast, and as an example of the vibrant writing which categories this novel, and particularly its beginning is how the same “Stapes” area is described here: As in any of the other manuscripts? Oh, no, no, no. He’s a character that was invented just for this.

An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie review – an

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. The other really distinctive aspect of the novel is its religious underpinning. Each chapter starts with an epigraph – the majority bible verses (which typically fit the chapter well if not perfectly or clunkily) with some Jamaican proverbs and (particularly towards the end) some Quran verses. And the theme of religion and in particular sin/damnation/repentance/redemption is vital to the book, to Sayon’s dilemma and his journey and to the reaction of his mother, Nanny and prospective father-in-law to him and his decisions. In the book the national law as represented by the “Feds” is probably closer to an annoying and biased tax or occupational hazard rather than a rule to be respected – so that the justice both of the streets but particularly as mediated by religion is far more crucial. For the characters in the book some form of religious underpinning is taken almost as read and a choice between different shades of Christianity, Islam or Rastafarianism is more due to personal circumstances – for example with Sayon on a journey from Christianity to Islam informed really by his embrace of the need for some form of religious discipline alongside his rejection of what he sees as the hypocrisy of his parents. The first party narrator is Sayon – part of the notorious Hughes family “known to police and hospital staff across the city.” whose various branches (shown as a – Olive – family tree before the text start) all under the matriarchal overview of his grandmother Nanny, dominate his life the book. 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.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.’

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

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? I belonged to the Hughes family. The infamous Hughes family – known to police and hospital staff across the city. Except in truth, I was a Stewart. It was the name written on my birth certificate, and it was my papa’s name, but I owed it no allegiance. I was actually in the Library when the cover of this book caught my eye. As it sat in the window, I was Key family members include: Cuba/Midnight – strictly the son of Sayon’s mother’s younger sister but very much a brother to Sayon from school through to their drug dealing partnership; Sayon’s own mother Erica – one of the few to leave the Hughes family, having married a Church pastor Errol Stewart and having largely abandoned all links to the Hughes, including to her own son from a young age; his older cousin Hakim – the other escapee from the family, having converted to Islam, married a Somali girl Elia (Sayon’s school friend) and running a bakery; Winnie – the drug addicted daughter of Nanny’s sister Auny Winifred and a rather (to me) confusing list of other cousins – Jamaal, Hakim, Killa, Bunny all seemingly marked by their criminal, womanising and violent tendencies.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. 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.

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

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).So, I started writing prose in 2017. Before that I’d write song lyrics, and I wrote three manuscripts before I wrote An Olive Grove in Ends. Yes, three manuscripts and then a screenplay. And they were all of varying quality; the premises had varying ideas, some of them good, some of them bad. And then some of them were poorly executed. All of them were poorly executed! But yeah, then I wrote An Olive Grove in Ends in 2019.

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

It will I think be a book that will divide opinion – many (and particularly mainstream) reviewers will I think simply go for the exciting young voice view; but individual readers I think may struggle with a number of aspects: the narrative style (particularly the speech), the literary techniques, the religious elements and the worldview of the protagonist (of which I struggled with the latter three aspects). 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. 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”. 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. And among a tale of a 11-year-old (going on about 21 at least compared to my schooldays) gangster in the making (while also intelligent) Sayon recounting tales of his various schemes and fights what are we to make of the insertion of this sudden passage of exposition

Beyond the Book

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.