April 15, 2016
In her first novel, playwright, poet, rapper, and winner of the Ted Hughes Award for poetry Tempest re-creates the South London in which she has always lived, peopled with young struggling Brits who want to make a go of their lives, despite the odds. They all have baggage and backstories and families with stories and more baggage. Harry is a lesbian drug dealer working for the mob. Her brother Pete cannot find a job and spends his time reading in a decrepit cafe. There he meets Becky, a wannabe dancer who supports herself by delivering massages to businessmen in hotels. Tempest's characters are the bricks that build the houses; the more she explores their lives and the lives of their friends and families, the higher the buildings. It's clear that at any time these delicate structures may come crashing down. VERDICT An intricate tale of love and corruption, of failed relationships and lifelong friendships, this novel draws readers down the twisted back streets of South London, into all-night pubs, one-room flats, and fast-food eateries. It's a terrifying adventure well worth taking. [See Prepub Alert, 11/9/15.]--Andrea Kempf, formerly with Johnson Cty.Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS
Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
December 1, 2016
Two pairs of twentysomethings in modern London-Harry, a drug dealer, and her best friend, "tough" Leon; Becky, an erotic masseuse and dancer, and her overprotective boyfriend, Pete-try to find their place in the gritty underbelly of London. Tempest builds on the stories first outlined in her hip-hop album Everybody Down to create a dark tale of coming-of-age in an unforgiving world (http: //ow.ly/B4Ox305Mqi9).-Mark Flowers, Rio Vista, Library, CA
Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from May 1, 2016
Rapper, performance artist, and poet Tempest has taken the main plot lines contained in her critically acclaimed hip-hop album Everybody Down and expanded them into this spectacularly moving debut novel. The work centers on two pairs of 20-somethings in modern London-a drug dealer named Harry and her best friend and "tough" Leon; and an erotic masseuse and dancer named Becky and her overprotective boyfriend Pete. As Tempest follows these four young people trying to find their place in the gritty underbelly of London and introduces readers to their friends and families, it becomes apparent that they are connected in seemingly preposterously coincidental ways. But Tempest justifies these coincidences. She has an ostensibly compulsive need to toss off new stories and characters: nearly every time readers meet characters, Tempest discusses their tangential backstories and family histories. Each tangent works as a perfect miniature short story, giving weight to the way it later connects back to the main plot. More importantly, the structure of the novel makes the coincidental nature of the plot necessary. The two overarching themes are the conflicting relationships with work and family-nearly every character comes from a broken home, and all work problematic jobs while secretly longing for middlebrow successes, such as owning a cafe. When it becomes clear that these characters and the plot are tangled together specifically by familial and business connections, the themes of the novel blossom into deeply felt catharses.
Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
December 1, 2015
Tempest won the Ted Hughes Award for Poetry and was named one of this decade's Next Generation Poets by the Poetry Book Society; her album Everybody Down was short-listed for the Mercury Prize. Now here comes her first novel, featuring Becky, who connects with a woman named Harry, starts dating Harry's brother, but leaves town with Harry when the latter hits a rough patch. With a 50,000-copy first printing.
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
April 1, 2016
Rapper-poet Tempest (Hold Your Own, 2015) does not stray far from her roots in her first novel. In elegant, purposeful prose, she offers a work that is part character study, part love story. Set in London's seedy underbelly, the tale follows Becky, a struggling dancer who makes ends meet as an erotic masseuse, and Harry, the public half of a drug-dealing duo. When the two meet one night in a bar, there's an instant connection (Harry likes girls; Becky likes people), and over the coming months, the two weave in and out of each other's lives, a strange dance that culminates when circumstances force them to flee London. Intertwined with their stories are the stories of the people who have shaped their lives. With a scope that rivals Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex (2002), Tempest juggles themes of family, history, and womanhood. To be a woman, you must struggle, one character hears. We will never be applauded for getting it right. In their ongoing search for meaning, Becky and Harry never quite succeed. Tempest, however, just might.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)