Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Feral Youth
    Unavailable
    Feral Youth
    Unavailable
    Feral Youth
    Ebook390 pages6 hours

    Feral Youth

    By Polly Courtney

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    Listen to the audiobook instead

    About this ebook

    The truth is, it ain’t just a race thing. They talk like it is, but really and truly it’s black against white, young against old, authorities against the rest. It’s countless of things. There’s bare reasons for feeling vexed right now.

    Growing up on a south London estate and excluded from every school that would take her, Alesha is the poster girl for the nation’s ‘feral youth’. When a young teacher makes an unexpected reappearance in the 15-year-old’s life, opening the door to a world of salaries, pianos and middle-class housemates, Alesha’s instinct is to pull up her hood and return to the streets. But fuelled by a need to survive, she falls into a cycle of crime, violence and drug-dealing, her one true ally deserting her when she needs him most. While everyone around her is rallying against the authorities in a war of haves and have-nots, Alesha finds herself caught in the crossfire, inextricably linked to the people she is trying to fight against. Can she see a way out? And as riots sweep the nation, whose side will she take?

    Born in South London and a resident of Ealing, an area affected by the London riots, Polly wrote Feral Youth ‘to give a voice to the thousands of frustrated youths who, like Alesha, feel marginalised and ignored by the rest of society’. She believes that the real causes of the riots have not gone away and that further unrest will happen in a matter of time. Feral Youth is a work of contemporary adult fiction that covers various topical themes, including the riots, youth culture, gangs and knife and gun crime. It sits alongside Stephen Kelman’s Pigeon English and Emma Donoghue’s Room in that it is aimed primarily at the adult reader and provides an alternative perspective on a world we think we know.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTroubador Publishing Ltd
    Release dateAug 1, 2013
    ISBN9781783069309
    Author

    Polly Courtney

    Polly Courtney is best known for writing Golden Handcuffs (Matador), a semi-autobiographical exposé on life in the City. Her other titles include Poles Apart (Matador), and The Fame Factor (Avon), a tale loosely based on her experiences in an all-girl string quartet. In 2011, she famously walked out on her publisher, HarperCollins, for the ‘girly’ titles and covers assigned to her books.

    Related to Feral Youth

    Related ebooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Not the Perfect Victim

      Aug 30, 2019

      Not the Perfect Victim
      21 min read

    • Article

      KILLER In The Cove

      Jul 7, 2021

      KILLER In The Cove
      4 min read

    • Article

      Modern Day Cults

      Jul 7, 2020

      Modern Day Cults
      4 min read

    • Article

      In Love With A Serial Killer

      Feb 13, 2020

      Elizabeth Kloepfer fell in love with Ted Bundy the moment she laid eyes on him. “He took my breath away,” she says of the man she spent six years with, and trusted with raising her daughter. Their romance was blissful … right up until the moment he w

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Depths Of Evil

      Feb 18, 2021

      The Depths Of Evil
      4 min read

    • Article

      Gory Stories

      Jun 5, 2022

      Gory Stories
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Threat

      Jul 8, 2021

      The Threat
      2 min read

    • Article

      Have You Been Duped?

      Mar 14, 2019

      At one time or another we have all wondered if the person we are speaking with is on the level. Some of us are good at spotting fakes and cons, while others get scammed repeatedly -- financially, emotionally, in life and love. Being scammed or the v

      4 min read

    • Article

      Criminal!

      Jan 2, 2020

      This museum is perfect for anyone fascinated by the dark world of crime. Set in 3,000 square feet of seafront caves in Hastings, it’s the largest collection of crime memorabilia in the UK. Suitable for all ages, it presents a chilling but fascinatin

      1 min read

    • Article

      Let’s Talk About Death

      Dec 29, 2019

      Let’s Talk About Death
      8 min read

    • Article

      Print Run

      Apr 2, 2022

      Print Run
      1 min read

    • Article

      Talking Dirty, Talking Feminism

      May 31, 2019

      Dear feminist men screaming #NotAllMen, and women of the sisterhood' calling Sonakshi Sinha moti, feminism is more than a hashtag or a clever quote on a T-shirt. Two books published earlier this yearone a personal account of growing up as a woman in

      1 min read

    • Article

      After Mass Rape, Turning Disgrace Into Grace

      Feb 2, 2018

      New services for women assaulted in conflict, such as in the Rohingya crisis, aim to restore a survivor’s dignity and remove social stigmas. Another aim is to help end gender inequality and the culture of impunity toward wartime rape.

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Trauma Of Rehabilitation

      Aug 3, 2018

      Last week, the country awoke to alarming new revelations in the sordid scandal of the routine sexual abuse of 34 girls between the ages of 7 and 14 in an NGO-run, state-funded Balika Grih in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. One girl is rumoured to have been murde

      2 min read

    • Article

      Internet

      Sep 6, 2022

      Internet
      2 min read

    Reviews for Feral Youth

    4/5

    5 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Wasn't sure I'd like this - as a Daily Mail (!) reader who felt 100% anger at the recent riots in London, doubted I could be made to care about a blade-toting 15 year old girl.But I have to say I really got involved in Ms Courtney's novel about Alesha, child of an alcoholic mother who has somehow fallen through the system. Her only 'fam' is childhood friend JJ, but he is getting caught up into gang life and its consequences, and nothing will be the same:"the worst thing is the idea that JJ's cheeky swagger is gone for good. It ain't the cuffs or the bars - it's the way it's changing him."As Alesha experiences homelessness, drug dealing and more, she encounters Miss Merfield, a teacher from her old school, determined to show her a better life. But will she pursue it?Perhaps Miss Merfield was a little saintly, her own life unbelievably and conveniently sad. And Alesha's mindset was irritating at times. But a really strong novel, keeps you involved to the end.