I say we - I don’t mean to speak for anyone other than myself or my characters - there’s just this feeling of disillusionment. The experiences you write about feel like they’re very familiar to you. How autobiographical is this material? I used to get frustrated asking, 'Why am I writing journalistic-style entries when I should be writing a play or a novel?' I felt so urgently I needed to make my mark and get moving, I was distraught about all this writing I was generating that wasn’t a novel.

Written and read by Kate Tempest. Tempest is a poet, rapper, playright and novelist. She was awarded the Ted Hughes Prize for poetry in 2013 for her epic narrative poem, Brand New Ancients. The following year, her narrative-led hip hop album, Everybody Down, was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Kae Tempest ' s critically acclaimed debut novel, the literary companion to their Mercury-Prize nominated album Everybody Down, takes us into the beating heart of the capital in this multi-generational tale of drugs, desire and belonging It was this jarring transition from poet to president that settled my opinion of this book: in the light of this world, it is a truly good thing. Tempest portrays the lives of generations of Londoners with an unflinching but sympathetic eye * Big Issue * With all fiction it begins in truth. The best fiction begins in some moment that feels so real and right with you that it sends you to try and make sense of it through writing. The setting, for example - South London - is so huge for me internally; it’s the place I grew up.Her characters sing ... This is yet another impressive achievement for Tempest, and one which leaves this Generation Xer understanding the woes of millennials much better * Scotland on Sunday * A novel of discontentment, rage and good intentions ... Tempest sharpens her tongue to good effect * The Times * Description: Award-winning poet and rapper Kate Tempest reads her debut novel, a tale of desire, ambition and untamed hedonism in London's beating heart. A story of accidental adventure and loss in what feels like London's boiling crucible of race, class and sexuality ... This novel requires giving oneself over to its linguistic world ... It seems not just to describe a contemporary world but chart the migratory and class movements that has led it to its current state * Andrew McMillan, Independent * Angst-ridden lyricism captures the energy and loneliness of London life in this dizzying, genre-busting debut ... A remarkable piece of writing, filled with verbal echoes and half-rhymes ... [One reads] for the pinpoint evocation of a milieu, its texture and contours, all delivered with an intensely gathered and focused energy ... Transformative * Guardian *

There was a more optimistic use of the imagination to come up with alternatives to the way that things were. There was belief in a movement for change.Obviously, this is my first novel; I’m a long way from being comfortable with the form. But I got to the end of this epic process and realised I’m now ready to write my first novel. I think what we’ve learned - and it’s sad to say - is that we can’t trust anything. Nothing will change. The things that make the world go round are beyond anyone’s control because it’s all about corporate control and profit before people. Soaring … Tempest's flair for language is tempered by their sense of rhythm and pace … Deeply affecting: cinematic in scope; touching in its empathic humanity … Tempest's voice – by turns raging and tender – never falters' New York Times It is this outlook that bonds herself and Harry during their drug-fuelled first meeting in the club. As they swap stories about what they do, why they do it and who they would like to someday be, the scene presents a picture of a tough modern London where breaking class boundaries means breaking the law. Tempest gives an arch view on the disenfranchisement through characters like Harry: “As if all we want is shit beer and silence, beans and chips and f***ing scratch cards.”