29 Locks

Product Information

The main character starts his journey in London and is involved in a gang so you really get to care about him and what he's going through in his life. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

The book is full of rich descriptions, fantastic characters, and hard hitting reality, mix all that with Donny’s first person narrative and you have the recipe for a fantastic debut. The story is told with compassion but also with great skill- you will want to read right until the last word. Growing up in dire poverty in Hackney, East London, his life is shaped by casual violence, gang initiation, drug-dealing, and knife crime. Donny's inner strength is one to be admired and whilst you nay want to scream at the pages, you will also cheer him on.

Payments made using National Book Tokens are processed by National Book Tokens Ltd, and you can read their Terms and Conditions here. All except Zoe, the spoilt but emotionally denied girl in school who becomes not only his best friend but the beginning of the new Donny. I have appeared at the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts, Chichester Arts Festival and the Petworth Literary Week, and I am a frequent guest on BBC Radio London.

After all, it's all he knows from early childhood and having a single mum addicted yo crack and God knows what else. It's far from gentle, it's certainly not a fairytale and it doesn't have a single prince (or princess) charming. The two already have a close bond but their eyes are opened to the world, even Donny who has seen too much.HopeRoad’s founder, Rosemarie Hudson, said: ‘Nicola is a fantastic new talent, and I’m so proud that HopeRoad will be publishing her debut. A fast-paced, tender and unflinching depiction of teenage friendship and resilience against the odds. Thanks so much for the opportunity to authenticate the North African Muslim experience in this wonderful book, and I am happy to be a part of it!

Read my Guardian newspaper article about my work with Minority Matters and teaching in London h ere. Locks by Nicola Garrard is a Young Adult book which I was drawn to immediately with the bright cover and the synopsis. A hot meal, a warm bath when he needs and wants it, a parental figure who shows him true affection and puts her children first. I just loved the idea of walking down the towpath and seeing Donny, Zoe and Ziggy the dog cruise by on Zuma Jay! When Donny’s posh new friend Zoe is offered a dubious modelling audition in London, the pair decide to ‘borrow’ a canal barge and navigate the 29 locks down to Kings Cross.There is no authorial barrier between Donny’s voice and the reader; his use of Multicultural London English (as helpfully glossed at the back of the book!

August 2020 Reading: Small Pleasures; Echo Hall; The Vanishing Half; A Different Drummer; The Naseby Horses; For When I’m Gone; Inside The Beautiful Inside; Long Live the Post Horn! Publication dates are subject to change (although this is an extremely uncommon occurrence overall).I have 24 years experience working in secondary schools as an English teacher, subject leader and Head of PSHE.