Alex Wheatle Books

WELCOME TO CRONGTON - where your loyalties and wits will be tested ... Things have been quiet in South Crongton. It's been an age since anyone last spotted Manjaro, South Crong's most notorious warlord. But there have been murmurs that something is coming. Jonah is the fastest sprinter in South Crong, and has his sights set on an Olympic Medal one day. But with his dad now jobless, and his parents constant fighting because they can't make ends meet, Jonah has more on his mind than the North/South Crong gang war games. So when he gets kidnapped and taken to Manjaro's secret hideout, it's the last thing Jonah needs. But Manjaro's latest game comes with a map and the promise of a big bag of cash at the end. Jonah's family, and his parents' marriage, could be saved with all that cash! It's time for Jonah to rally the Crongton Knights again and follow the clues. But will the map lead them to treasure, or something much more deadly?

From the author of the celebrated Crongton books, comes a fast-paced and funny, tender, tragic and courageous story about a teenage girl growing up fast in the care system. It is award-winning author Alex Wheatle's most moving and personal novel to date.

"A rich layering of motive and emotion . . . robust dialogue, streetwise humour and muscular, mischievous vernaculour" Independent Set on the streets of Brixton, south London, BRENTON BROWN is a fatal love story about a man who never got over his first love, a perfect love with his half-sister Juliet that has left him unable to form any real relationships since they both decided it must end. "Wheatle's dialogue sings" Guardian Juliet is consumed by guilt because she knows that her half-brother, Brenton, grew up in children's homes with no family to speak of, while she received all her mother's love. She has a career with good prospects in politics, and has married Clayton, a successful banker, to please her mother. He treats her daughter, Breanna, like his own - but secretly he has always suspected that there has been something going on between Juliet and Brenton. Unable to let go physically or emotionally, Brenton takes the advice of his longstanding friend Floyd, and decides to start a new life in another country. When their good intentions fail, Juliet and Brenton must pay the ultimate price. A story about family ties, forbidden love and life, BRENTON BROWN is shot through with robust humour, unforgettable characters, unerringly pitched dialogue and towering emotion.

A hauntingly beautiful novel of twentieth-century Jamaica and the Windrush generation's settlement in the UK.

In this breathtaking memoir, acclaimed writer Alex Wheatle shows how music became his salvation

Winner of the Guardian Children Fiction's Prize 2016 Shortlisted for the YA Book Prize 2017 Living on the South Crongton council estate has its worries - and life for McKay has been even tougher since his mum died. His dad has been working all hours to keep the bailiffs from their door. His brother is always out riding the streets at night, tempting trouble. And now, having strayed off his turf on a 'heroic' (if misguided) mission to help out a girl, McKay finds himself facing a friend's crazy ex-boyfriend, some power-tripping hood-rats and a notoriously violent gangster with a vendetta which hits too close to home. Poor McKay. He never asked for trouble . . . But during one madcap night of adventure and danger, he will find out who his true friends are and what it means to stick with your family. Crongton Knights is a very funny, very moving story that shows that although life is testing, the lessons learned the hard way are the ones you'll never forget.

From the acclaimed author of Liccle Bit and Crongton Knights, comes another story from the fictional South Crong council estate

Nobody free till everybody free.Moa is fourteen. The only life he has ever known is working on the Frontier sugar cane plantation for endless hot days, fearing the vicious whips of the overseers. Then one night he learns of an uprising, led by the charismatic Tacky. Moa is to be a cane warrior, and fight for the freedom of all the enslaved people in the nearby plantations. But before they can escape, Moa and his friend Keverton must face their first great task: to kill their overseer, Misser Donaldson. Time is ticking, and the day of the uprising approaches... Irresistible, gripping and unforgettable, Cane Warriors follows the true story of Tacky's War in Jamaica, 1760.

Brixton Rock is the powerfully explosive debut of one of the UK's finest writers

Set in Brixton, 20 years after the race riots, The Dirty South follows the adventures of Bricky teenager Dennis Huggins as he drifts into the easy, dangerous life of the shotta - or drug dealer - and discovers that, hard as the struggle for respect on the streets is, the struggle for love is harder still. At least Dennis has involved parents looking out for him; too many of his friends have no guidance other than that offered by their fellow shottaz, or the dubiously motivated black Muslims. Wheatle brilliantly evokes the temptations of the thug life for young black men growing up in London's 'Dirty South' - a fast, compelling novel that offers no easy answers, but refuses to shy away from asking the difficult questions.

Kemosha and her brother have lived their whole lives in slavery. Sold away to work in lawless Port Royal, Kemosha takes her chance to escape brutal treatment. With fortune on her side, Kemosha befriends Ravenhide, a man with a mysterious past who teaches her the art of swordfighting, and introduces her to the beautiful runaway Isabella.Yet Kemosha's greatest test yet is upon the deck of the Satisfaction: the notorious Captain Morgan’s ship. His next adventure on the high seas could be the making of Kemosha – and her one chance to earn enough pieces of eight to buy the freedom of her brother...

Four friends decide to run away from the horror of their everyday lives in a children's home in the English countryside. They head for the woods, their sense of freedom surprises them, and for the first time they feel the exhilaration of adolescence. Yet the forest slowly asserts its own power and what happens there will affect the four boys' lives forever. With his trademark humour, compelling narrative directness, and rhythmic prose, Alex Wheatle here shows himself to be an author of real calibre, exposing the social stigma associated with children's homes, and the psychological consequences of their impact on sensitive children. Never losing pace or failing to engage the reader at every moment, `Home Boys' is an unflinchingly honest depiction of childhood.

Hilarity follows disaster in this sharp-witted tale of the trials of pre-teen life, from award-winning and critically acclaimed Crongton author Alex Wheatle. Welton Blake has done it! He's asked out Carmella McKenzie - the best-looking girl in school - and she's only gone and said yes! But just as he thinks his luck is starting to change, Welton's phone breaks, kick-starting a series of unfortunate and humiliating events. With bullies to avoid, girls ready to knock him out and all the drama with his mum and dad, life for Welton is about to go very, very wrong ... Hilarity follows disaster in this sharp-witted tale of the trials of teen life from award-winning author Alex Wheatle.

Cornell is having a bad time. Kicked out of secondary school for a fight he didn't start, he finds himself in a Pupil Referral Unit. Here he makes friends with one of the Sinclair family. You don't mess with the Sinclairs, and when Ryan Sinclair demands Cornell comes with him to teach another student some respect, Ryan witnesses something that will change his life. Torn between protecting his family and himself, Cornell has one hell of a decision to make.

WELCOME TO CRONGTON, WHERE YOUR LOYALTY AND WITS WILL BE TESTED ... Enter for angst, fierce friendships and edge-of-your-seat drama. Winner of the Guardian Children Fiction's Prize 2016.

WELCOME TO CRONGTON, WHERE YOUR LOYALTY AND WITS WILL BE TESTED ... Enter for angst, fierce friendships and edge-of-your-seat drama. Shortlisted for the YA Book Prize 2018.

WELCOME TO CRONGTON, WHERE YOUR LOYALTY AND WITS WILL BE TESTED ... Enter for angst, fierce friendships and edge-of-your-seat drama. 'A gripping tale of family and friends, love and loyalty' Malorie Blackman, Children's Laureate

Lemar Jackson ist 14 Jahre alt, und obwohl er nur der Zweitkleinste in seinem Jahrgang ist, nennen ihn, zu seinem großen Missfallen, alle »Liccle Bit«. Jonah und McKay sind seine besten Freunde, und dennoch ziehen sie ihn ständig damit auf, dass er keine Chancen bei Mädchen hat. Erst recht nicht bei Venetia King, dem heißesten Mädchen der Schule. Umso erstaunter sind alle, als Venetia ihn bittet, ein Porträt von ihr zu zeichnen. Ist das etwa ein erstes Date? Doch auch Manjaro, der berüchtigte Anführer der Gang von South Crongton, beginnt auf einmal, sich für ihn zu interessieren, und bevor Lemar sich versieht, erledigt er kleine Aufträge für ihn. Als der erste Tote im Viertel auftaucht, erkennt Lemar, dass er schon viel zu tief in dem eskalierenden Bandenkrieg steckt und so auf keinen Fall weitermachen kann. Aber wie soll er seinen Kopf aus der Schlinge ziehen, die sich immer weiter zuschnürt?

»Home Girl« erzählt von der 14-jährigen Naomi, die trotz vieler Enttäuschungen und Stress in ihrem Leben Hoffnung findet. In ihrer neuen Pflegefamilie bei den Goldings erlebt sie, wie Fremde zu Familie werden können. Das Buch thematisiert Jugend im Fürsorgesystem, Rassismus und die Suche nach einem Zuhause.