Finalist for the 2022 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction

Named one of the five best new paperbacks by The New York Times Book Review

Recommended by Jeremy Atherton Lin on Bookshop.org

“The kind of novel you never knew you were waiting for. An explosive work that reels from sex, to sin, to salvation all the while grappling with what it means to black, gay, British, a son, a father, a lover, even a man. A remarkable debut.” - Marlon James, New York Times bestselling author of Black Leopard, Red Wolf

“When did you last read a novel about a young, black, gay, Jehovah’s Witness man from Wolverhampton who flees his community to make his way in London as a prostitute? This might be a debut, but Mendez is an exciting, accomplished and daring storyteller with a great ear for dialogue. Graphic erotica alert! Don't read this book if you like your fiction cosy and middle-of-the-road.” - Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other

"As with writers like Marlon James and Nicole Dennis-Benn, Mendez’s dialect-writing stretches the boundaries of a language owned by no one. . . . The writing is delicious and subtle throughout, often punctuated by musical references that ground it in the decades it explores." - The New York Times Book Review