Pigeon English

Author(s): Stephen Kelman

YA Fiction

Newly arrived from Ghana with his mother and older sister, Harrison Opoku lives on the ninth floor of a block of flats on a London housing estate. The (second) best runner in the whole of Year 7, Harri races through his new life in his personalised trainers - the Adidas stripes drawn on in marker pen - unaware of the danger growing around him. But when a boy is knifed to death on the high street and a police appeal for witnesses draws only silence, Harri decides to start a murder investigation of his own. In doing so, he unwittingly breaks the fragile web his mother has spun around her family to keep them safe. Harri will come face to face with the very real dangers surrounding him. A powerful, unforgettable tale, importantly relevant for young adult readers of today. Includes a Q&A with the author, Stephen Kelman, and a piece about what inspired him to write Pigeon English.


Product Information

A must-read and memorable tale of a young boy fighting to survive, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2011. Now available for the first time in a YA edition

The humour, the resilience, the sheer ebullience of its narrator - a hero for our times - should ensure the book becomes, deservedly, a classic Daily Mail This is a book which needs to be read and discussed in years 10 and above School Librarian Pigeon English would be on the curriculum. This is an extraordinary book. Everyone should read it -- Interview With Kate Humble, 'what She Would Change About The World If She Was Queen' Stylist

Stephen Kelman was born in Luton in 1976. After finishing his degree he worked variously as a warehouse operative, a careworker, and in marketing and local government administration. He decided to pursue his writing seriously in 2005, and has completed several feature screenplays since then. Pigeon English is his first novel; he is currently working on his second.

General Fields

  • : 9781408828205
  • : Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • : Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • : September 2012
  • : United Kingdom
  • : November 2012
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Stephen Kelman
  • : Paperback
  • : English
  • : 823.92
  • : 288