Secular shelf life

Sarah Allen  |  Features  |  Secular Shelf Life
Date posted:  1 Jan 2012
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PIGEON ENGLISH
By Stephen Kelman
Bloomsbury. 288 pages. £12.99
ISBN 978 1 408 810 637

The cover of this book is bright and immediate, grabbing the attention with strong colours and simple lines, and in many ways the cover style reflects the contents.

Echoing the murder of Damilola Taylor in 2000, this book tells the story of an 11-year-old Ghanaian boy recently arrived in a London council estate. Harri narrates his story in a distinctive voice, mixing street talk with Ghanaian slang; his na?ve observations of life in his deprived area are deliberately poignant.

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