Luke Brown, publishing director, Profile Books

I was drawn to Nicolas’s novel for a number of reasons. I found myself very invested in his two protagonists, young men at turning points in their lives – uncertain what the future holds for them as their school education comes to an end and they face a working life in a divided country. I rooted for both of them: David, the music obsessive, torn between loyalty for his deteriorating dad and his cancelled musical hero, and the progressive, socially liberal life his mother represents in a gentrified part of east London. I understood how the refusal of nuance among leftist echo chambers could repel him into an over-opposing position that should have been unnatural for a sensitive artistic boy to take. And I found the portrayal of

Hassan very tender, a boy who does all the right things and still finds himself faced with humiliation and trauma. Amid the disturbing elements of the novel are warm portraits of immigrant communities in east London that are unsentimental and truthful in feel.

This an important novel: an extraordinarily compassionate work that attempts to combat the worst excesses of online life: the entrenched positions, the narrow circles of perspective. We see how a fascist becomes a fascist – we see the moments of grace when David’s life could have gone differently, and we come away from the book convinced of the importance of listening to people unlike ourselves, and that this kind of imaginative dialogue is essential to prevent divisions becoming more entrenched to the point that we are able to dehumanise people we have decided are unlike us.