A Small Silence

* Lead title for Autumn 2019 * Focused national media campaign to accompany launch * A powerful and ambitious novel, reminiscent of the alienated men of the existentialist novels of Ayi Kwei Armah's The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born and Albert Camus' The Outsider. * Deals thoughtfully with mental illness and the effects of trauma * A nuanced and insightful portrayal of the crisis of masculinity * Tackles issues of class and social inequality, and is peopled by carefully-drawn characters with flawed and affecting personalities

A vivid and visceral excursion into the margins of society from an exciting and important new literary voice. A Small Silence follows activist Prof on his release from prison, where he retreats into a life of darkness until a student named Desire begins to visit him, shaking him out of self-imposed exile.Imprisoned for ten years for his rage against society, activist and retired academic Prof resolves to live a life of darkness after his release from prison. He holes up in his apartment, pushing away friends and family, and embraces his status as an urban legend in the neighbourhood until a knock at the door shakes his new existence. His new visitor is Desire, an orphan and final year student, who has grown up idolising Prof, following a fateful encounter in her hometown of Maroko as a child. Tentatively, the two begin to form a bond, as she returns every night at 9pm to see him. However, the darkness of the room becomes a steady torment, that threatens to drive Desire away for good. A Small Silence is an intimate and evocative debut that charges us to look again at the alienating effects of trauma and the power of solitude and darkness to ignite the imagination.