Pigeon English

Stephen Kelman’s spellbinding portrayal of a boy balancing on the edge of manhood, and the forces around him that try to shape the way he falls.

Eleven-year-old Harrison Opoku lives in a block of flats on an inner-city estate. From his ninth-floor balcony, Harri absorbs the strange elements of his new life in England: watching, listening, and learning the tricks of survival. When a boy is knifed to death and a police appeal for witnesses draws only silence, Harri decides to start an investigation of his own. In doing so, he unwittingly endangers the fragile web his mother has spun around her family to keep them safe.

"[C]harm and peril are on full display in Stephen Kelman's first novel…[a] mixture of ridiculous observations and accidental insights makes Pigeon English continually surprising and endearing…Whether [Harrison's] explaining the rules of farting or the tragedy of gang killings, there's a sweetness here that's irresistible."  -  Ron Charles, The Washington Post

Stephen Kelman's debut novel Pigeon English was shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Guardian First Book Award. Kelman was also shortlisted for the New Writer of the Year Award at the 2011 Galaxy National Book Awards. He was born in Luton and lives in St Albans.