by Derek Owusu
First published 2019
Tyler knows keeping quiet means staying safe. Growing up in a London council estate, he understands the unspoken rules: don't ask too many questions, don't challenge family dynamics, don't expose vulnerabilities. When a series of escalating tensions threaten to fracture his fragile household, Tyler must decide whether silence is truly protection or a form of self-erasure. His mother's unpredictable moods, his absent father's shadow, and the complex web of family secrets press against him from all sides. Each conversation feels like walking through a minefield—one wrong step could detonate years of carefully maintained peace. As external pressures mount and internal conflicts intensify, Tyler begins to recognize that safety might require something more dangerous: speaking truth. What emerges is a raw, intimate portrait of a young Black man learning to claim his voice in a world designed to silence him.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, social-issues, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: London, Council Estate
Period: Contemporary
256 pages · Hardcover · Trapeze
Content warnings: abuse, domestic-violence, emotional-abuse