Feral Youth

"The truth is, it ain't just a race thing. They talk like it is, but really and truly it's black against white, young against old, authorities against the rest. It's countless of things. There's bare reasons for feeling vexed right now."

Growing up on an inner-city estate and excluded from every school that would take her, Alesha is the poster girl for the nation's 'feral youth'. Life is about surviving, one day at a time. 

When a young, eccentric teacher makes an unexpected reappearance in the 15-year-old's life, opening the door to a world of salaries, pianos and tea-drinking roommates, Alesha's instinct is to pull up her hood and return to the streets, sinking deeper into a cycle of crime, drug-dealing and violence. 

While everyone around her is rallying against the authorities in a war of haves and have-nots, Alesha finds herself caught in the crossfire, inextricably linked to the people she is trying to fight against. 

Can she see a way out? And as riots sweep the nation, whose side will she take?

"A shocking account of generation recession - Alesha is a standout character of the year" -- Independent on Sunday

"Courtney has an ability to breed empathy for an ethnic minority often subjected to negative stereotypes" -- Metro

"Feral Youth is as compelling as it is horrifying. It lifts the lid on the lives of marginalised young people that the media demonises and the rest of us prefer to ignore." -- Fiona Bawdon