This book featured in the 2022 version of the influential annual Observer Best Debut Novelist feature (past years have included Natasha Brown, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Douglas Stuart, Sally Rooney and Gail Honeyman among many others). Perhaps the most impressive thing about this novel is the fact that it was penned by a young man in his early 20s. This is also arguably its greatest weakness, but the strengths predominate. As debut novels go, this one is better than average.

An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie | Goodreads

You know man’s gonna live here someday, cuz,’ I announced. Cuba screwed his face; he didn’t mean to doubt me, but he wasn’t accustomed to dreams. ‘How you gonna buy dis yard, akh? You need white people ps to buy dis – big man ting.’ ‘Don’t watch dat,’ I told him. ‘Man’ll find a way, truss me.’ Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. – Matthew 7:13 – 14 She would cycle into Clifton and across the Suspension Bridge just to look at the yard. There were other houses on the road, for it was narrow with many mansions, but it was this one that caught her eye. It was the furthest from the street, she explained, as far from the hustle and bustle as one could get.A remarkable debut, bristling with sharp prose and daring originality’ Nathan Harris, author of THE SWEETNESS OF WATER 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”. 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.

An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie - Coles Books

A reedy voice came from behind me: ‘Yo, scuse me.’ The two yutes were waiting to leave. The boy who spoke looked at me through hooded eyes, unsure of what resistance I would provide. The other yute hung at his arm and glared, but didn’t offer a word. Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? You know deh’s horses in the woods, init?’ I said, repeating what my mama had told me all those years ago. He’d had to push them up to his elbow to keep them in place. Cuba handed me one as I handed him some food from a cupboard.And the book will for many readers be most distinguished by the speech of the various characters – typically Jamaican patois of various vintages – including sprinklings of Somali, for example (Sayon’s mother and a younger Cuba respectively) And some of the writing, especially when we are meant to understand the jeopardy of Sayon’s position, would not be out of place in a pre GCSE creative writing exercise with too much of a tell-not-show style and some rather clunky formulations. Drug violence, religious strife, and a star-crossed romance play out in this Shakespearean tale set in a Bristol neighborhood of Caribbean and Somali immigrants called Ends. And I would not be surprised to see it appear on literary prize lists over the next 12 months or so – as it clearly introduces a fresh and distinctive new voice to the UK literary scene from a very young author (the auction for this book – and a follow up around the St Paul riots – took place in 2020 when the author was a 22 year old recent English graduate). His long term aim (as set out in the first chapter) is to buy a Clifton based mansion that his mother first showed him as a child – and his drug dealing and other criminal activities have got him close to that aim with nearly 80% of the price in cash; however just before the novel’s starts (and this is not a spoiler as it is revealed from the second chapter) Sayon kills someone to protect Cuba and is now desperately scrambling to cover this up so as to maintain his dream (and his relationship with Shona) This involves him effectively needing to make a breach with his own family and come under the influence of Shona’s father who, having always resented her relationship with Sayon, now sees Sayon’s salvation as his life project.

AN OLIVE GROVE IN ENDS | Kirkus Reviews AN OLIVE GROVE IN ENDS | Kirkus Reviews

Boysah, yuh better lef di poor gyal loose, Sayon. Maybe next time mi bump innah Marcia mi could tell er, dem deserve fi know exactly who deh date dem daughter.

I set the novel in the area I was raised in. So the inspiration is just the area itself, you know, my home is the inspiration. I don’t mean my home as in my literal house. My home, as in my area and then the neighbouring area. I didn’t have to sit down and think about setting and place because that was what I lived. And then I wrote it for my little cousin. Two officers stood beside the tape ready to hurry any gawkers along, but since this wasn’t Clifton, the scene was hardly worth much more than a passing glance. Dey’ll fix it before you buy it, g, don’t worry,’ Cuba grinned, ‘and if dey don’t, I’ll send you some ps to cover it. It’s calm, bro. We’re in dis together, remember? Come, fam.’ He swept the broken slivers from the window with his sleeve and we wriggled through a slit wide enough only for ten-year-old boys.