Description
Book Synopsis''This novel is written with a breathtaking, exhilarating assurance and wit. Terrific'' The Times
''A wrenchingly beautiful debut by a writer to be reckoned with'' Jesmyn Ward
Mitchell S. Jackson grew up black in a neglected neighbourhood in America''s whitest city, Portland, Oregon. In the ''90s, those streets and beyond had fallen under the shadow of crack cocaine and its familiar mayhem. In his commanding autobiographical novel, Jackson writes what it was like to come of age in that time and place, with a breakout voice that''s nothing less than extraordinary.
The Residue Years switches between the perspectives of a young man, Champ, and his mother, Grace. Grace is just out of a drug treatment programme, trying to stay clean and get her kids back. Champ is trying to do right by his mum and younger brothers, and dreams of reclaiming the only home he and his family have ever shared. But selling crack is the only sure way he knows t
Trade Review
A sparkling debut . . . Jackson's writing crackles and sparks with startling insights -- Colin Grant * Observer *
Mitchell S Jackson's traumatic debut novel is written in a heightened, lyrical prose style inspired by the local vernacular. He brings to his narrative not just first-hand experience, but a profound compassion for the deadbeat dads, neglectful mothers, pimps, whores and dealers whose chaotic, intersecting lives form the basis of the story -- Press Association
