Read more
Michael decides to flee to America and end his life once all his savings run out. JJ Bola's second novel is a story of millennial existential angst told through the eyes of a young Londoner who seems to have it all - a promising future, a solid career, strong friendships, a blossoming love story - but it's the unbearable weight of life that leads him to decide to take his own.
As he grapples with issues bigger than him - political conflict, environmental desecration, police brutality - Michael seeks to find his place within a world that is complicated and unwelcoming.
Although he finds solace in the people that surround him, he alone must decide if his life is worth living.
About the author
JJ Bola is an established writer, poet and UNHCR Ambassador. His three poetry collections - Elevate (2012), Daughter of the Sun (2014), and WORD (2015) - were published in one collection, Refuge (2018), which was read out in the House of Commons during Refugee week in 2018.
He was one of Spread the Word's Flight Associates 2017 and a Kit de Waal Scholar for the Birkbeck University MA in Creative Writing.As a former refugee, JJ Bola was invited to the Davos Economic Forum 2018 and held a discussion with Cate Blanchett.
His debut novel, No Place to Call Home, was published in the UK in 2017, and in 2018 in North America. His non-fiction book Mask Off: Masculinity Redefined, which exposes masculinity as a socially conditioned performance, was published in the UK in 2019.
JJ speaks and performs both internationally and in the UK.
Summary
A heartbreaking, lyrical story for all of those who have fantasised about escaping their daily lives and starting over.
Foreword
A heartbreaking, lyrical story for all of those who have fantasised about escaping their daily lives and starting over.
Additional text
In this wonderfully tender novel about masculinity and mental health, about being lost and finding yourself again, Bola's vulnerable delicate writing conveys so much truth and heart about how we are now, how closed we are, how much goes unsaid and the quiet pain in our hearts'
