Dogknife

In this Multi-5* review-grabbing, page-turning debut novel we meet street-wise and gutsy 17 year old Gizmo, who is kicked out of home and into a hostel for teenagers in Radford, Nottingham. Gizmo quickly makes friends with two other residents, Val and Boo Boo Girl and the girls realise that by selling their bodies for money in the infamous Forest Road red-light district, they can fund their lifestyle of drugs, alcohol and battling to have a good time. The reality and darkness of inner city life engulfs the feisty trio as Boo Boo Girl is raped by a middle-aged punter, Robert. The ensuing court case collapses when Boo Boo Girl is humiliated on the witness stand for being a working girl and Robert is acquitted. Armed only with a small knife, her Dogknife, compelled by rage and her deep sense of justice, Gizmo's plans for bloody revenge catapult her away from the increasingly dangerous streets of Nottingham into the world of imprisoned young offenders and institutionalised cycles of violence. Told from Gizmo's slang-heavy point of view, by a writer who knows, Dogknife is a gritty account of life on the streets of Nottingham in the late 90s, when drugs and crime are on the rise and the city is about to hit the national headlines for all the wrong reasons. Welcome to Nottingham, this is Dogknife.