Pigeon English

by Stephen Kelman

Paperback, 2012

Description

A deeply funny, moving, and unforgettable story of innocence and experience, hope and harsh reality, [...]a spellbinding portrayal of a boy balancing on the edge of manhood and of the forces around him that try to shape the way he falls.

Description

Lying in front of Harrison Opuku is a body, the body of one of his classmates, a boy known for his crazy basketball skills, who seems to have been murdered for his dinner. Armed with a pair of camouflage binoculars and detective techniques absorbed from television shows like CSI, Harri and his best friend, Dean, plot to bring the perpetrator to justice. They gather evidence-fingerprints lifted from windows with tape, a wallet stained with blood-and lay traps to flush out the murderer. But nothing can prepare them for what happens when a criminal feels you closing in on him.Recently emigrated from Ghana with his sister and mother to London?s enormous housing projects, Harri is pure curiosity and ebullience-obsessed with gummy candy, a friend to the pigeon who visits his balcony, quite possibly the fastest runner in his school, and clearly also fast on the trail of a murderer.Told in Harri's infectious voice and multicultural slang, Pigeon English follows in the tradition of our great novels of friendship and adventure, as Harri finds wonder, mystery, and danger in his new, ever-expanding world.… (more)

Publication

House of Anansi Press (2012)

Awards

Booker Prize (Longlist — 2011)
Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 2013)
British Book Award (Shortlist — New Writer — 2011)
Waverton Good Read Award (Longlist — 2011)
Guardian First Book Award (Shortlist — 2011)
Desmond Elliott Prize (Shortlist — 2011)

Language

ISBN

1770890319 / 9781770890312
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