Keeping the House (Paperback) Tice Cin (author), Max Porter (editor)

A vibrant, funny and compassionate debut from an exciting new literary voice, Keeping the House follows three generations of women as they navigate the complex and precarious heroin trade of North London.

Shortlisted for The British Book Awards 2022 Discover Book of the Year

Longlisted for the Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour 2022

Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize 2022

Longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2022

Cabbages … The Turkish variety are prized for their enlarged leaf bud, that’s where we put the heroin … There’s a stash of heroin waiting to be imported, and no one seems sure what to do with it …

But Ayla’s a gardener, and she has a plan. Offering a fresh and funny take on the machinery of the North London heroin trade, Keeping the House lifts the lid on a covert world thriving just beneath notice: not only in McDonald’s queues and men’s clubs, but in spotless living rooms and whispering kitchens.

Spanning three generations, this is the story of the women who keep their family – and their family business – afloat, juggling everything from police surveillance to trickier questions of community, belonging and love.

Publisher: And Other Stories
ISBN: 9781913505080
Number of pages: 256
Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm