The Kid, By Sapphire

This is Sapphire's long-awaited follow up to her bestselling novel, Push, which was adapted into the film, Precious, in 2009 , and it maintains the tension between the social disadvantages that her characters face and their heroic struggles to survive against these indomitable forces.

The sexually-abused black American teenager from Push loses her battle and leaves the story early on. It is her son, Abdul, whose orphan story we follow as he enters the chaotic and corrupt care system. Told phonetically in his voice – funny, angry, incendiary – the result is a startling novel, which makes for harrowing reading at times.