The Dirty South

Front Cover
Profile Books, May 26, 2011 - Fiction - 296 pages

Brixton, twenty years after the race riots. Teenager Dennis Huggins drifts into the easy, dangerous life of the shotta - or drug dealer - and discovers that, hard as the struggle for respect on the streets is, the struggle for love is harder still.

At least Dennis has involved parents looking out for him; too many of his friends drift through life with no positive influences or moral code; their only 'family' their fellow dealers. Wheatle brilliantly evokes the temptations of the thug life for young black men growing up in London's 'Dirty South' - this is a fast, compelling novel that offers no easy answers, but refuses to shy away from asking the difficult questions.

 

Selected pages

Contents

Section 1
1
Section 2
13
Section 3
19
Section 4
25
Section 5
29
Section 6
39
Section 7
47
Section 8
57
Section 11
95
Section 12
105
Section 13
121
Section 14
133
Section 15
143
Section 16
171
Section 17
185
Section 18
205

Section 9
67
Section 10
81
Section 19
213
Copyright

Other editions - View all

The Dirty South
Alex Wheatle
Snippet view - 2008
The Dirty South
Alex Wheatle
No preview available - 2009

Common terms and phrases

ain’t ain’t gonna Akeisha alright Angel Town Anyway asked Auntie Denise baby bitch black ass black brothers bredrens Brenton Brown Bricky Brixton bruv buff Burn can’t Cara Cara’s chat cool couldn’t Courtney Thompson Courtney’s Croydon facelift Davinia Dennis door drink Dryneck duppied Everton face fat-head Feds feel felt flat fucked-up fucking garms gates ghetto brother ghetto chicks girl give Gloria Granny Granny’s guess He’s head Jamaican kicked kids kinda kiss knew laughed lived looked merk motherfucking MTV Base Mum’s Muslim Nathan never night Nike Noel Noel’s nuff Paps parents park poetry jam pound Priscilla proper pulled pussy Red Eyes remember ride road shit shotta shotting skunk smiled Streatham sure talk Tania tell There’s thing thought told took trying Tulse Hill walk wanna wanted wasn’t watching wearing What’s gwarnin Yardman Yeah you’re

About the author (2011)

Alex Wheatle was born in 1963 to Jamaican parents living in London. He spent most of his childhood in a children's home, which he left at 14 to live in a hostel in Brixton. At 18, he was involved in the Brixton uprising and went to prison for 3 months. On his release, he continued to perform as a DJ and MC under the name Yardman Irie, moving on to the performance poetry circuit as The Brixton Bard in the early '90s. His second novel, East of Acre Lane, won the London New Writers Award (2000). In 2008, he was awarded an MBE for services to literature.

Bibliographic information

TitleThe Dirty South
AuthorAlex Wheatle
Editionreprint
PublisherProfile Books, 2011
ISBN1847654819, 9781847654816
Length296 pages
Subjects › 

Fiction / General
  
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