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An Olive Grove in Ends
THE DAZZLING DEBUT NOVEL ABOUT LOVE, COMMUNITY AND DREAMS DEFERRED - BY AN EXCITING NEW LITERARY VOICE
Sayon Hughes, a young black man from Bristol, dreams of a world far removed from the one in which he was raised. Far removed from the torn slips outside the bookie's, the burnt spoons and the crooked solutions his community embraces; most of all, removed from the Christianity of his uncaring parents and the prejudice of law-makers.
Growing up, Sayon found respite from the chaos of his environment in the love and loyalty of his brother-in-arms, Cuba; in the example of his cousin Hakim, a man once known as the most infamous drug-dealer in their neighbourhood, now a proselytising Muslim; and in the tenderness of his girl, Shona, whose own sense of purpose galvanises Sayon's.
In return, Sayon wants to give the people he loves the world: a house atop a grand hill in the most affluent area of the city, a home in which they can forever find joy and safety. But after an altercation in which a boy is killed, Sayon finds his loyalties torn and his dream of a better life in peril.
Sayon Hughes, a young black man from Bristol, dreams of a world far removed from the one in which he was raised. Far removed from the torn slips outside the bookie's, the burnt spoons and the crooked solutions his community embraces; most of all, removed from the Christianity of his uncaring parents and the prejudice of law-makers.
Growing up, Sayon found respite from the chaos of his environment in the love and loyalty of his brother-in-arms, Cuba; in the example of his cousin Hakim, a man once known as the most infamous drug-dealer in their neighbourhood, now a proselytising Muslim; and in the tenderness of his girl, Shona, whose own sense of purpose galvanises Sayon's.
In return, Sayon wants to give the people he loves the world: a house atop a grand hill in the most affluent area of the city, a home in which they can forever find joy and safety. But after an altercation in which a boy is killed, Sayon finds his loyalties torn and his dream of a better life in peril.
324 pages, Paperback
First published May 31, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 206 reviews
May 16, 2022
Thanks to the publisher for an ARC of this book. Comes out 5/31/2022 in US, according to the book cover. So glad I got to read this early as it’s AMAZING!! 🤩 How is this author, Moses Mackenzie, just 23 years old?!! I love the author’s realistic dialogue, the easy reading of sinking comfortably into Sayon’s world with just enough details to feel I’m walking in the story, side by side, with each character. A MUST buy and MUST read. I only hope the author is already working on his next book. ❤️
November 15, 2023
Winner of the 2023 Hawthornden Prize.
This book featured in the 2022 version of the influential annual Observer Best Debut Novelist feature (past years have included Natasha Brown, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Douglas Stuart, Sally Rooney and Gail Honeyman among many others).
And I would not be surprised to see it appear on literary prize lists over the next 12 months or so – as it clearly introduces a fresh and distinctive new voice to the UK literary scene from a very young author (the auction for this book – and a follow up around the St Paul riots – took place in 2020 when the author was a 22 year old recent English graduate).
It will I think be a book that will divide opinion – many (and particularly mainstream) reviewers will I think simply go for the exciting young voice view; but individual readers I think may struggle with a number of aspects: the narrative style (particularly the speech), the literary techniques, the religious elements and the worldview of the protagonist (of which I struggled with the latter three aspects).
This book has a very strong sense of place – set in the Stapleton Road area, described by Wikipedia as “a major thoroughfare in the English city of Bristol, running through the districts of Lawrence Hill and Easton. It is known for being very culturally diverse with many esoteric shops. However since the mid 20th century it has gained a reputation for having a high crime rate”.
Here by contrast, and as an example of the vibrant writing which categories this novel, and particularly its beginning is how the same “Stapes” area is described here:
The first party narrator is Sayon – part of the notorious Hughes family “known to police and hospital staff across the city.” whose various branches (shown as a – Olive – family tree before the text start) all under the matriarchal overview of his grandmother Nanny, dominate his life the book.
Key family members include: Cuba/Midnight – strictly the son of Sayon’s mother’s younger sister but very much a brother to Sayon from school through to their drug dealing partnership; Sayon’s own mother Erica – one of the few to leave the Hughes family, having married a Church pastor Errol Stewart and having largely abandoned all links to the Hughes, including to her own son from a young age; his older cousin Hakim – the other escapee from the family, having converted to Islam, married a Somali girl Elia (Sayon’s school friend) and running a bakery; Winnie – the drug addicted daughter of Nanny’s sister Auny Winifred and a rather (to me) confusing list of other cousins – Jamaal, Hakim, Killa, Bunny all seemingly marked by their criminal, womanising and violent tendencies.
Sayon’s long term girlfriend is Shona, now an up-and-coming music agent/producer she is also the daughter of a pastor – Lyle Jennings. Lyle’s Baptist church is more fundamentalist, and bible based than Errol’s more charismatic church and Shona is much closer to her parents than Sayon (in fact still living at home in a relatively idealistic home set up – note than we only really see Shona through Sayon’s eyes so we realise that her character and set up are idealised by him).
The set-up of the book has both a long-term dream/fantasy of Sayon’s and a short term but very serious dilemma that threatens those dreams just as they are crystallising.
His long term aim (as set out in the first chapter) is to buy a Clifton based mansion that his mother first showed him as a child – and his drug dealing and other criminal activities have got him close to that aim with nearly 80% of the price in cash; however just before the novel’s starts (and this is not a spoiler as it is revealed from the second chapter) Sayon kills someone to protect Cuba and is now desperately scrambling to cover this up so as to maintain his dream (and his relationship with Shona) This involves him effectively needing to make a breach with his own family and come under the influence of Shona’s father who, having always resented her relationship with Sayon, now sees Sayon’s salvation as his life project.
The narrative style of the book is distinctive but also I would say uneven.
As well as some vibrant prose (see the lengthy quote above), there are some brilliant figures of speech: “They hit every R' like joyriders hitting speed bumps” for a the accent of some (white) Bristolian builders; and “an ostentation of whites” to describe a group of early-gentrification phase inhabitants of the area – were for me worth the book price alone.
And the book will for many readers be most distinguished by the speech of the various characters – typically Jamaican patois of various vintages – including sprinklings of Somali, for example (Sayon’s mother and a younger Cuba respectively)
As with “Who They Was” or “Mad and Furious City” (and the book will draw comparisons to both and sits somewhere in the middle of them) one’s ability to appreciate the book will partly correlate with one’s ability to follow the language (which for me was not an issue but I think may well be for others).
But with all of this fairly distinctive language – the book also lapses into literary technique which is not just more conventional but I felt out of place in literary fiction. A number of chapters end with a heavily telegraphed transitions “I sought a moment’s comfort elsewhere”, “a familiar memory came to mind, “in the first year of secondary school, I almost [lost Shona]” or dramatic cliffhangers/revelations “I saw you kill that boy the other night”
And among a tale of a 11-year-old (going on about 21 at least compared to my schooldays) gangster in the making (while also intelligent) Sayon recounting tales of his various schemes and fights what are we to make of the insertion of this sudden passage of exposition
And some of the writing, especially when we are meant to understand the jeopardy of Sayon’s position, would not be out of place in a pre GCSE creative writing exercise with too much of a tell-not-show style and some rather clunky formulations.
The other really distinctive aspect of the novel is its religious underpinning. Each chapter starts with an epigraph – the majority bible verses (which typically fit the chapter well if not perfectly or clunkily) with some Jamaican proverbs and (particularly towards the end) some Quran verses. And the theme of religion and in particular sin/damnation/repentance/redemption is vital to the book, to Sayon’s dilemma and his journey and to the reaction of his mother, Nanny and prospective father-in-law to him and his decisions. In the book the national law as represented by the “Feds” is probably closer to an annoying and biased tax or occupational hazard rather than a rule to be respected – so that the justice both of the streets but particularly as mediated by religion is far more crucial. For the characters in the book some form of religious underpinning is taken almost as read and a choice between different shades of Christianity, Islam or Rastafarianism is more due to personal circumstances – for example with Sayon on a journey from Christianity to Islam informed really by his embrace of the need for some form of religious discipline alongside his rejection of what he sees as the hypocrisy of his parents.
I understand that the epigraphs were originally intended to be more used in the text to reflect the way Black elders in particular would use bible verses in everyday life, but it was an editorial decision to reflect that an English readership (the author has called England “the least spiritual place in the world.”) would not really identify. As with a number of books that feature heavy Christian influences in a non-positive way I think the book may still be neither one thing nor the other for UK readers: many non-religious readers will I think still find the biblical influences at best extraneous, whereas Christian readers (and I suspect those from other faiths) will find the treatment of religion as voiced by Sayon at best reductive if not slightly insulting.
Which brings me to my final issue – as with “Who They Was” I think some readers may struggle to sympathise with Sayon’s worldview and the didactic way in which it seems to justify say selling drugs to homeless people as exactly equivalent to a religious group feeding or clothing them, as well as the constant violence and criminal activities which can be justified due to injustices against past generations.
Overall for me this was a novel which read very clearly as a debut novel and as one written by a young author, and one where a number of aspects did not really work for me – but nevertheless still a very interesting new voice who I think will go on to write much better novels.
This book featured in the 2022 version of the influential annual Observer Best Debut Novelist feature (past years have included Natasha Brown, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Douglas Stuart, Sally Rooney and Gail Honeyman among many others).
And I would not be surprised to see it appear on literary prize lists over the next 12 months or so – as it clearly introduces a fresh and distinctive new voice to the UK literary scene from a very young author (the auction for this book – and a follow up around the St Paul riots – took place in 2020 when the author was a 22 year old recent English graduate).
It will I think be a book that will divide opinion – many (and particularly mainstream) reviewers will I think simply go for the exciting young voice view; but individual readers I think may struggle with a number of aspects: the narrative style (particularly the speech), the literary techniques, the religious elements and the worldview of the protagonist (of which I struggled with the latter three aspects).
This book has a very strong sense of place – set in the Stapleton Road area, described by Wikipedia as “a major thoroughfare in the English city of Bristol, running through the districts of Lawrence Hill and Easton. It is known for being very culturally diverse with many esoteric shops. However since the mid 20th century it has gained a reputation for having a high crime rate”.
Here by contrast, and as an example of the vibrant writing which categories this novel, and particularly its beginning is how the same “Stapes” area is described here:
There are roads in neighbourhoods like mine all across the country. Broad roads. Without mansions. In England they have names like City Road or High Street, except this road was called Stapleton, and those familiar with her charm might call her Stapes.
They were broad roads because they tracked their way from one side of Ends to the other. Ends was what we called our neighbourhood, or any neighbourhood like ours. I wasn't sure of the reason, whether it was because it was where the downtrodden saw the light at the end of the tunnel, or because once you arrived you only left when those in charge wanted to rebrand. Either way, it was stuffed to the gunwales with people trying to make ends meet, so the name made sense.
It was a far cry from Clifton.
The moment you left the city's centre you could hear or smell Ends, whether you took a left after Stapes, or carried straight through Old Market. The sounds were disorderly. It smelt non-White. It was the other side of Abbey Road and industrial wastebins that were padlocked in other neighbourhoods hung and stank like open stomachs. You could find a million dreams deferred in the torn slips that littered outside the bookie's ……………
The road was patrolled by young and old: abtis arranged tables outside cafés, serving tea from pans; they peered into the faces of young hijabis, trying to find a likeness and match daughter to hooyo. Their sons and nephews stood outside corner shops and met at park benches, and together with my cousins, they were watched by the disapproving eyes of our respective elders.
The first party narrator is Sayon – part of the notorious Hughes family “known to police and hospital staff across the city.” whose various branches (shown as a – Olive – family tree before the text start) all under the matriarchal overview of his grandmother Nanny, dominate his life the book.
Key family members include: Cuba/Midnight – strictly the son of Sayon’s mother’s younger sister but very much a brother to Sayon from school through to their drug dealing partnership; Sayon’s own mother Erica – one of the few to leave the Hughes family, having married a Church pastor Errol Stewart and having largely abandoned all links to the Hughes, including to her own son from a young age; his older cousin Hakim – the other escapee from the family, having converted to Islam, married a Somali girl Elia (Sayon’s school friend) and running a bakery; Winnie – the drug addicted daughter of Nanny’s sister Auny Winifred and a rather (to me) confusing list of other cousins – Jamaal, Hakim, Killa, Bunny all seemingly marked by their criminal, womanising and violent tendencies.
Sayon’s long term girlfriend is Shona, now an up-and-coming music agent/producer she is also the daughter of a pastor – Lyle Jennings. Lyle’s Baptist church is more fundamentalist, and bible based than Errol’s more charismatic church and Shona is much closer to her parents than Sayon (in fact still living at home in a relatively idealistic home set up – note than we only really see Shona through Sayon’s eyes so we realise that her character and set up are idealised by him).
The set-up of the book has both a long-term dream/fantasy of Sayon’s and a short term but very serious dilemma that threatens those dreams just as they are crystallising.
His long term aim (as set out in the first chapter) is to buy a Clifton based mansion that his mother first showed him as a child – and his drug dealing and other criminal activities have got him close to that aim with nearly 80% of the price in cash; however just before the novel’s starts (and this is not a spoiler as it is revealed from the second chapter) Sayon kills someone to protect Cuba and is now desperately scrambling to cover this up so as to maintain his dream (and his relationship with Shona) This involves him effectively needing to make a breach with his own family and come under the influence of Shona’s father who, having always resented her relationship with Sayon, now sees Sayon’s salvation as his life project.
The narrative style of the book is distinctive but also I would say uneven.
As well as some vibrant prose (see the lengthy quote above), there are some brilliant figures of speech: “They hit every R' like joyriders hitting speed bumps” for a the accent of some (white) Bristolian builders; and “an ostentation of whites” to describe a group of early-gentrification phase inhabitants of the area – were for me worth the book price alone.
And the book will for many readers be most distinguished by the speech of the various characters – typically Jamaican patois of various vintages – including sprinklings of Somali, for example (Sayon’s mother and a younger Cuba respectively)
Boysah, yuh better lef di poor gyal loose, Sayon. Maybe next time mi bump innah Marcia mi could tell er, dem deserve fi know exactly who deh date dem daughter.
Who would understand gettin jacked, doe? I wouldn't let no one jack man cos man ain't no victim, you get me? I ain't no pussy. If dey robbed man I'd rob dem back, init. If dey shanked man, or done man dirty I'd do dem back, init. Like the Bible says: an eye for an eye, fam.
As with “Who They Was” or “Mad and Furious City” (and the book will draw comparisons to both and sits somewhere in the middle of them) one’s ability to appreciate the book will partly correlate with one’s ability to follow the language (which for me was not an issue but I think may well be for others).
But with all of this fairly distinctive language – the book also lapses into literary technique which is not just more conventional but I felt out of place in literary fiction. A number of chapters end with a heavily telegraphed transitions “I sought a moment’s comfort elsewhere”, “a familiar memory came to mind, “in the first year of secondary school, I almost [lost Shona]” or dramatic cliffhangers/revelations “I saw you kill that boy the other night”
And among a tale of a 11-year-old (going on about 21 at least compared to my schooldays) gangster in the making (while also intelligent) Sayon recounting tales of his various schemes and fights what are we to make of the insertion of this sudden passage of exposition
The school was more than seventy per cent Black but the higher sets were more Middle-Eastern, Vietnamese and Pakistani, which was an unsettling fact for one of the only cities in the country whose Black population was bigger than its Asian.
And some of the writing, especially when we are meant to understand the jeopardy of Sayon’s position, would not be out of place in a pre GCSE creative writing exercise with too much of a tell-not-show style and some rather clunky formulations.
The money in my trouser pocket weighed heavy as I found some resolution and marched up the Jenningses' garden path, but my nerves were far from serene. Recent circumstances had placed my life's work and aspirations at terrible risk, and when I was only a hair's breadth from it too. And the pastor's invitation to dinner had come at the worst possible time.
The other really distinctive aspect of the novel is its religious underpinning. Each chapter starts with an epigraph – the majority bible verses (which typically fit the chapter well if not perfectly or clunkily) with some Jamaican proverbs and (particularly towards the end) some Quran verses. And the theme of religion and in particular sin/damnation/repentance/redemption is vital to the book, to Sayon’s dilemma and his journey and to the reaction of his mother, Nanny and prospective father-in-law to him and his decisions. In the book the national law as represented by the “Feds” is probably closer to an annoying and biased tax or occupational hazard rather than a rule to be respected – so that the justice both of the streets but particularly as mediated by religion is far more crucial. For the characters in the book some form of religious underpinning is taken almost as read and a choice between different shades of Christianity, Islam or Rastafarianism is more due to personal circumstances – for example with Sayon on a journey from Christianity to Islam informed really by his embrace of the need for some form of religious discipline alongside his rejection of what he sees as the hypocrisy of his parents.
I understand that the epigraphs were originally intended to be more used in the text to reflect the way Black elders in particular would use bible verses in everyday life, but it was an editorial decision to reflect that an English readership (the author has called England “the least spiritual place in the world.”) would not really identify. As with a number of books that feature heavy Christian influences in a non-positive way I think the book may still be neither one thing nor the other for UK readers: many non-religious readers will I think still find the biblical influences at best extraneous, whereas Christian readers (and I suspect those from other faiths) will find the treatment of religion as voiced by Sayon at best reductive if not slightly insulting.
Which brings me to my final issue – as with “Who They Was” I think some readers may struggle to sympathise with Sayon’s worldview and the didactic way in which it seems to justify say selling drugs to homeless people as exactly equivalent to a religious group feeding or clothing them, as well as the constant violence and criminal activities which can be justified due to injustices against past generations.
Overall for me this was a novel which read very clearly as a debut novel and as one written by a young author, and one where a number of aspects did not really work for me – but nevertheless still a very interesting new voice who I think will go on to write much better novels.
June 11, 2022
Perhaps the most impressive thing about this novel is the fact that it was penned by a young man in his early 20s. This is also arguably its greatest weakness, but the strengths predominate. As debut novels go, this one is better than average.
McKenzie is quoted as stating that he wished to pay homage to Bristol's diverse citizenry and gritty subculture and in this regard, too, he is successful. One gets a very clear sense of the people and places that populate the story. Language is also celebrated, with lots of Jamaican Patois and Arabic peppering conversational exchanges. Finally, in an age where organized religion is often viewed askance, the tenets of Islam and Christianity serve as touchstones for many of the main characters.
Where relative inexperience shows is in the erratic pacing of the narrative. Nearly every chapter inserts several block paragraphs of expository writing. It seems that, in his eagerness to include as much historical and psychological detail as possible, McKenzie has overburdened the book with information that doesn't move the story along. Sayon, the protagonist, also spends a lot of time grappling in earnest with the kinds of existential questions that generally preoccupy youth. His epiphanies didn't feel all that revelatory to me and so I was less engaged during those sections.
Expect this one to show up on a few prize lists, and rightly so.
3.5 stars
McKenzie is quoted as stating that he wished to pay homage to Bristol's diverse citizenry and gritty subculture and in this regard, too, he is successful. One gets a very clear sense of the people and places that populate the story. Language is also celebrated, with lots of Jamaican Patois and Arabic peppering conversational exchanges. Finally, in an age where organized religion is often viewed askance, the tenets of Islam and Christianity serve as touchstones for many of the main characters.
Where relative inexperience shows is in the erratic pacing of the narrative. Nearly every chapter inserts several block paragraphs of expository writing. It seems that, in his eagerness to include as much historical and psychological detail as possible, McKenzie has overburdened the book with information that doesn't move the story along. Sayon, the protagonist, also spends a lot of time grappling in earnest with the kinds of existential questions that generally preoccupy youth. His epiphanies didn't feel all that revelatory to me and so I was less engaged during those sections.
Expect this one to show up on a few prize lists, and rightly so.
3.5 stars
June 16, 2022
This atheist was unable to settle in to the religious content.
June 12, 2022
This debut novel by Bristolian author Moses McKenzie initially had me quite intrigued. It sits nicely alongside other "British Grit Lit" novels such as Guy Gunaratne’s In Our Mad and Furious City, Gabriel Krauze's Who They Was and Nadia Mohamed's The Fortune Men. Taken together they offer a startling view into the multicultural neighbourhoods of urban Britain and a chance to grapple with some Jamaican-English, wagwan ?. This patois is undoubtedly a challenge to penetrate at times and is contrasted by an almost Shakespearian turn of phrase at other times. I found it a little discombobulating.
There is no doubt this is an accomplishment debut but it lacked some of the compulsive story-telling that I enjoyed so much with Gunaratne's novel. It is also true I found this novel a little heavy on religiosity that doesn't personally resonate with me. This might actually be unfair to the novel but it is also true that by the midway point, for whatever reason, I had just lost interest in the story.
Still without doubt McKenzie is a young new author to watch
There is no doubt this is an accomplishment debut but it lacked some of the compulsive story-telling that I enjoyed so much with Gunaratne's novel. It is also true I found this novel a little heavy on religiosity that doesn't personally resonate with me. This might actually be unfair to the novel but it is also true that by the midway point, for whatever reason, I had just lost interest in the story.
Still without doubt McKenzie is a young new author to watch
November 1, 2023
Felt like a book version of Top Boy…. But in an underwhelming way….
We are taken to Bris-tol where we meet this family who keeps on disintegrating. We meet cousins who are into drugs but Sayon wants to make a clean break when things go wrong for him and he ends up getting blackmailed by his girlfriend’s dad. He tries his best to stay on the straight and narrow but he misses his family, his loyalty to his cousin and his inability to come clean to his girlfriend. One night everything comes clean which sends him spiraling.
What I loved most about the book was the exploration of religion and it means for each person.
Honestly, this one felt long and unedited. I really wanted to love it but there was just something missing. I didn’t feel deeply for the characters and I think its because they all seem very one-dimensional. Will I read what the author writes next? Absolutely!
We are taken to Bris-tol where we meet this family who keeps on disintegrating. We meet cousins who are into drugs but Sayon wants to make a clean break when things go wrong for him and he ends up getting blackmailed by his girlfriend’s dad. He tries his best to stay on the straight and narrow but he misses his family, his loyalty to his cousin and his inability to come clean to his girlfriend. One night everything comes clean which sends him spiraling.
What I loved most about the book was the exploration of religion and it means for each person.
Honestly, this one felt long and unedited. I really wanted to love it but there was just something missing. I didn’t feel deeply for the characters and I think its because they all seem very one-dimensional. Will I read what the author writes next? Absolutely!
July 29, 2025
3.5 stars
Looking to read Moses McKenzie? Start with Fast by the Horns.
I just don't get publishing sometimes. This book got a lot of attention when it came out, seems to have sold okay and is being adapted to a series. The author's second book, which I read last month, appears to have sunk like a stone. The second book is really excellent. And this book is a very promising debut, but also very much a debut.
It's clear that McKenzie has talent by spades. In this book, which follows a young man in a poor neighbourhood who tries to give up dealing drugs for his girlfriend's sake (that's pretty reductive, there's a lot more to it than that) but finds that he misses his large and chaotic family, this talent is especially on display in the scenes depicting the area around Stapleton Road in Bristol.
"I loved and hated this road," he says, before describing it's family connections, "I had more cousins than a river had rivulets, and like a doting stepmother, Stapes took us all in." In one stretch of road, "there was a Pakistani wig shop selling Brazilian hair to West African women." He's attuned to the exact dynamics of the area's culture, which is mostly Black, a mix of Caribbean descendants and newer Somali arrivals, where many are Christian, others are Muslim, some convert from one to the other and most don't let religion get in the way of dealing drugs and taking out opponents from neighbouring Saint Pauls.
The protagonist is Sayon Hughes, who is very much immersed in this world but also has a more middle class girlfriend, Shona, whose father is a pastor and a hypocrite but has something serious on Sayon. And Sayon also has a dream, to buy a Clifton mansion he once broke into as a child and which represents a fairy tale solution to the forces holding him back.
So far so good, and I enjoyed a lot of the writing and set-pieces throughout (confrontations between Sayon and Shona's father; an evening spent with a tramp on the church steps, another playing cards with two uncles). The plot itself didn't do a lot for me, being a fairly typical trying-to-escape-a-life-of-crime narrative with a side helping of coming of age. And the writing does contain awkward insertions and expositionary paragraphs to explain Sayon's world.
There's some local dialect and patois, though not as much as in Fast by the Horns. McKenzie himself seems to regret this, saying in an interview in The Guardian: "In An Olive Grove in Ends, I wrote in an anglicised Jamaican patois. What I did was perhaps the wrong decision; I diluted the language and made it more akin to broken English. In Fast By the Horns, I took a leaf out of books by Andrea Levy, George Lamming and Sam Selvon – to double down on the rhythm of the speech, the spellings too."
Elsewhere, the author has mentioned that critics tend to find this novel "gritty" or "urban" but never mention the "Studio Ghibli softness of it." Honestly, I find that a bit of a stretch: it's true that the novel avoids typecasting its hard-luck characters and that love between cousins, both of whom deal drugs, is a big theme, but it's still a book about murder and revenge killings and so on... not quite getting Studio Ghibli softness from that.
Anyway, this is by no means a bad book, and I'm glad I read it and will definitely be reading the author's next but for anyone starting out, I recommend McKenzie's second novel, which is a more contained story, perhaps less worried with putting absolutely everything in, shorter and a more even reading experience.
Looking to read Moses McKenzie? Start with Fast by the Horns.
I just don't get publishing sometimes. This book got a lot of attention when it came out, seems to have sold okay and is being adapted to a series. The author's second book, which I read last month, appears to have sunk like a stone. The second book is really excellent. And this book is a very promising debut, but also very much a debut.
It's clear that McKenzie has talent by spades. In this book, which follows a young man in a poor neighbourhood who tries to give up dealing drugs for his girlfriend's sake (that's pretty reductive, there's a lot more to it than that) but finds that he misses his large and chaotic family, this talent is especially on display in the scenes depicting the area around Stapleton Road in Bristol.
"I loved and hated this road," he says, before describing it's family connections, "I had more cousins than a river had rivulets, and like a doting stepmother, Stapes took us all in." In one stretch of road, "there was a Pakistani wig shop selling Brazilian hair to West African women." He's attuned to the exact dynamics of the area's culture, which is mostly Black, a mix of Caribbean descendants and newer Somali arrivals, where many are Christian, others are Muslim, some convert from one to the other and most don't let religion get in the way of dealing drugs and taking out opponents from neighbouring Saint Pauls.
The protagonist is Sayon Hughes, who is very much immersed in this world but also has a more middle class girlfriend, Shona, whose father is a pastor and a hypocrite but has something serious on Sayon. And Sayon also has a dream, to buy a Clifton mansion he once broke into as a child and which represents a fairy tale solution to the forces holding him back.
So far so good, and I enjoyed a lot of the writing and set-pieces throughout (confrontations between Sayon and Shona's father; an evening spent with a tramp on the church steps, another playing cards with two uncles). The plot itself didn't do a lot for me, being a fairly typical trying-to-escape-a-life-of-crime narrative with a side helping of coming of age. And the writing does contain awkward insertions and expositionary paragraphs to explain Sayon's world.
There's some local dialect and patois, though not as much as in Fast by the Horns. McKenzie himself seems to regret this, saying in an interview in The Guardian: "In An Olive Grove in Ends, I wrote in an anglicised Jamaican patois. What I did was perhaps the wrong decision; I diluted the language and made it more akin to broken English. In Fast By the Horns, I took a leaf out of books by Andrea Levy, George Lamming and Sam Selvon – to double down on the rhythm of the speech, the spellings too."
Elsewhere, the author has mentioned that critics tend to find this novel "gritty" or "urban" but never mention the "Studio Ghibli softness of it." Honestly, I find that a bit of a stretch: it's true that the novel avoids typecasting its hard-luck characters and that love between cousins, both of whom deal drugs, is a big theme, but it's still a book about murder and revenge killings and so on... not quite getting Studio Ghibli softness from that.
Anyway, this is by no means a bad book, and I'm glad I read it and will definitely be reading the author's next but for anyone starting out, I recommend McKenzie's second novel, which is a more contained story, perhaps less worried with putting absolutely everything in, shorter and a more even reading experience.
May 18, 2023
really good, but so slow.
June 3, 2022
3.5
There's lots to like about this hugely promising debut novel and Moses McKenzie is without doubt a future star.
An Olive Grove in Ends spins the tale of Sayon Hughes, a young black Bristolian from a notorious part of the city, as he grapples with his fractious family, the pull and pressure of religion, his life dealing drugs and his beloved Shona. All the time dreaming of buying a house on top of the hill across town in Clifton, the part of Bristol reserved for wealthy whites. But Sayon sees his dream start to slip away as an act of violence sends his world spinning.
McKenzie brings to vivid life the areas around Stapleton Road, St Paul's and Old Market. These are places renowned for their violence and, as a pasty young fat lad from the countryside, I'd sink lower in the seat of the bus as we travelled through them as a kid. But McKenzie shows us something else - the tight knit community that exists here, the roots people have laid down, the oppression felt in a community wilfully ignored as other parts of the city gentrify and receive investment.
I loved the setting, the characters, the sensationally good dialogue. I could just feel the crafting a little bit, everything felt a bit too written. I wanted it to be braver, to be more raw. It bears comparison with Gabriel Krauze's Who They Was but McKenzie just needs to be more free and he'll definitely be in the same class.
There's lots to like about this hugely promising debut novel and Moses McKenzie is without doubt a future star.
An Olive Grove in Ends spins the tale of Sayon Hughes, a young black Bristolian from a notorious part of the city, as he grapples with his fractious family, the pull and pressure of religion, his life dealing drugs and his beloved Shona. All the time dreaming of buying a house on top of the hill across town in Clifton, the part of Bristol reserved for wealthy whites. But Sayon sees his dream start to slip away as an act of violence sends his world spinning.
McKenzie brings to vivid life the areas around Stapleton Road, St Paul's and Old Market. These are places renowned for their violence and, as a pasty young fat lad from the countryside, I'd sink lower in the seat of the bus as we travelled through them as a kid. But McKenzie shows us something else - the tight knit community that exists here, the roots people have laid down, the oppression felt in a community wilfully ignored as other parts of the city gentrify and receive investment.
I loved the setting, the characters, the sensationally good dialogue. I could just feel the crafting a little bit, everything felt a bit too written. I wanted it to be braver, to be more raw. It bears comparison with Gabriel Krauze's Who They Was but McKenzie just needs to be more free and he'll definitely be in the same class.
Read
July 5, 2022DNF - it wasn’t grabbing me. I may pick it back up on a later date.
July 14, 2022
A young man has dreams of buying a house at the top of a "bad" part of Bristol, rapidly being gentrified, where he has just committed a murder, and ostensibly, just seen one the following day-- causing events, and his dreams, to spiral beyond his control.
Scenes digress into his past as he encounters members of the neighborhood, contextualizing as he moves through areas. It's great at this aspect of the story. With the premise and the arc being interesting. I also think the dialogue is particularly strong. Unfortunately, the rest of the writing style in this is too grating for me to contend with, though. If I hadn't picked this up under the context of reading Booker-eligible nominations, maybe I'd have had lower expectations too. The flow is really awkward and, worse, vaciliates often. This is also accentuated by how the paragraphs are formatted. Not enough attention is given to really quite pivotal moments, yet digresses into granular specifics for the innocuous. Smilies are really incongruent with what is occurring on the page but likened to cultural aspects of the protagonist and community. I can see why this is happening yet it takes me out of the fiction a lot of the time when compounded with the other issues. I also just did not see where this was going with the faith angle right up until the point of DNF, around 25%. That's a long time to have bible quotes and talk of pastors and lead up to, presumably, the main inciting incident (which could have been three or four other events but aren't because they're all but eschewed).
In short: it reads very well for a debut novel from a young person. It is not, I think, particularly well written for a literary book being considered against others for a prize. But I see many people really like it, so it may just be down to something as simple as taste pertaining to writing styles. I'd place it as an upmarket release--not quite literary, certainly not commercial fiction. It's got a lot of votes for Booker-eligible hopefuls, though.
Scenes digress into his past as he encounters members of the neighborhood, contextualizing as he moves through areas. It's great at this aspect of the story. With the premise and the arc being interesting. I also think the dialogue is particularly strong. Unfortunately, the rest of the writing style in this is too grating for me to contend with, though. If I hadn't picked this up under the context of reading Booker-eligible nominations, maybe I'd have had lower expectations too. The flow is really awkward and, worse, vaciliates often. This is also accentuated by how the paragraphs are formatted. Not enough attention is given to really quite pivotal moments, yet digresses into granular specifics for the innocuous. Smilies are really incongruent with what is occurring on the page but likened to cultural aspects of the protagonist and community. I can see why this is happening yet it takes me out of the fiction a lot of the time when compounded with the other issues. I also just did not see where this was going with the faith angle right up until the point of DNF, around 25%. That's a long time to have bible quotes and talk of pastors and lead up to, presumably, the main inciting incident (which could have been three or four other events but aren't because they're all but eschewed).
In short: it reads very well for a debut novel from a young person. It is not, I think, particularly well written for a literary book being considered against others for a prize. But I see many people really like it, so it may just be down to something as simple as taste pertaining to writing styles. I'd place it as an upmarket release--not quite literary, certainly not commercial fiction. It's got a lot of votes for Booker-eligible hopefuls, though.
May 29, 2022
Great debut novel by Moses McKenzie, recommended by the Observer as one of the top 10 debut novels of 2022.
Set in an impoverished, multicultural area of Bristol, this is the story of Sayon Hughes trying to achieve both a childhood dream and love his childhood sweetheart balancing family, love and loyalty. Some excellent Jamaican English dialogue and a gripping story of a culture largely unknown to me. Maybe the only downside a slightly anti climatic ending but highly recommend. Audio narrated by Louis McKenzie.
Set in an impoverished, multicultural area of Bristol, this is the story of Sayon Hughes trying to achieve both a childhood dream and love his childhood sweetheart balancing family, love and loyalty. Some excellent Jamaican English dialogue and a gripping story of a culture largely unknown to me. Maybe the only downside a slightly anti climatic ending but highly recommend. Audio narrated by Louis McKenzie.
April 24, 2023
not to flex but i've eaten soup with moses mckenzie
September 21, 2023
"Life Has a Funny Way Of Working Out, Doesn't It?"
I was actually in the Library when the cover of this book caught my eye. As it sat in the window, I was
I was so intrigued by its Cover and I had to read it. It was a Wonderful choice and has become another on my Favorite list.
I embraced every single Essence of Spiritual Redemption in this debut novel by Moses McKenzie!
In this unforgettable novel, Sayon Hughes narrates his story; realizing he has much greater ambitions than his circumstances may allow. In the opening, The Hughes Family Tree is the representation of his large family. Although, Sayon's family fails to have similar "Dream-chasing" desires.
Moses McKenzie literally takes readers walking the streets with Sayon as he deals with many struggles trying toward a Better Life. This novel is nothing short of Realism! The gentrification, multicultural community, drugs, ets. Yet, the proverbs and Biblical references bring this Author's characters to Life with unique depth in this narrative. I especially loved page 102-103. Just Beautiful!
Pastor Lyle: "What love is greater than a father's love?" (Sayon's response made me tear up)
I'm very excited to read this Author's next release.
I was actually in the Library when the cover of this book caught my eye. As it sat in the window, I was
I was so intrigued by its Cover and I had to read it. It was a Wonderful choice and has become another on my Favorite list.
I embraced every single Essence of Spiritual Redemption in this debut novel by Moses McKenzie!
In this unforgettable novel, Sayon Hughes narrates his story; realizing he has much greater ambitions than his circumstances may allow. In the opening, The Hughes Family Tree is the representation of his large family. Although, Sayon's family fails to have similar "Dream-chasing" desires.
Moses McKenzie literally takes readers walking the streets with Sayon as he deals with many struggles trying toward a Better Life. This novel is nothing short of Realism! The gentrification, multicultural community, drugs, ets. Yet, the proverbs and Biblical references bring this Author's characters to Life with unique depth in this narrative. I especially loved page 102-103. Just Beautiful!
Pastor Lyle: "What love is greater than a father's love?" (Sayon's response made me tear up)
I'm very excited to read this Author's next release.
March 8, 2022
An amazing debut from Moses McKenzie that tells the story of a young man living in Bristol trying to find his way in a life that is filled with violence, poverty, faith and forgiveness. This is one of those books that really makes you ponder life’s questions such as what it means to be good and what is the difference between right and wrong when you have a reasonable explanation for both sides? This book truly makes you think about life and all of it’s complex nuances.
July 17, 2025
Consider my socks knocked clean off! The way the author weaves together poverty, family, grief, violence and one million other topics is incredible, made only more so by the fact that it’s a debut novel by a 23 year old.
December 7, 2022
A coming of age story about a man born into a family of drug dealers, and his desire to live a better life and the only avenue he thinks is available to him.
What I love about this is that the violence that is such a big part of his world often dominates similar books, but in this novel it doesn't, the treat of violence is there and there's some very violent scenes, but the focus of the novel is on the society pressures, the relationships and the role of religion and that allows this man to fall in love with a woman, make friends and contrast what they're saying with his family and show how that makes him feel trapped.
I did not find the religious aspect to be either peachy or to be critical of religion, rather it was an important presence in this man's life, key to his understanding of the world and preached by men with flaws.
A great character portrait of a really bleak situation.
What I love about this is that the violence that is such a big part of his world often dominates similar books, but in this novel it doesn't, the treat of violence is there and there's some very violent scenes, but the focus of the novel is on the society pressures, the relationships and the role of religion and that allows this man to fall in love with a woman, make friends and contrast what they're saying with his family and show how that makes him feel trapped.
I did not find the religious aspect to be either peachy or to be critical of religion, rather it was an important presence in this man's life, key to his understanding of the world and preached by men with flaws.
A great character portrait of a really bleak situation.
November 7, 2025
A strong 3.5! I loved reading a book set in Bristol and in many ways it was beautifully done. My biggest qualm was with the ending which wrapped up too hard and fast for me!
October 23, 2025
Really brought back my love for reading. Would recommend:)
September 9, 2022
✨🆂🅴🆅🅴🅽 🅻🅸🆃 🆃🅷🅸🅽🅶🆂 ✨
|| 𝗔𝗻 𝗢𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝗻𝗱𝘀 x Moses McKenzie ||
𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲?
* Yes, I think McKenzie is an interesting new voice and will write much better novels than this one.
𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿:
* In this novel, my favorite character is Nanny. Nanny is authentic and raw. Nanny is not ratting her drug-dealing grandbaby out to the police. She’s gonna cook you a big breakfast even after you’ve made her upset. Nanny loves you unconditionally.
𝗠𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆:
* One major takeaway for me is that the male characters, specifically Sayon and Pastor Lyle Jennings, go a majority of the storyline determining just how Shona will think about the “THING” Sayon has done and how it will affect their relationship. These men fail to allow this young woman to think for herself. McKenzie gives the female characters really flat dimensions. Women have voices—let them use them.
𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲𝘀/𝘀𝘂𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀:
* Loyalty
* Family & Love
* Morality
𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆?
* Somewhat, yes, it talks about religion and family. The town is referred to as Ends. Since the novel is full of religious imagery, I found in Revelation 11:4, there are two olive trees that symbolize the Holy Spirit's endless supply of anointing. Plus, there’s an olive grove with the family’s lineage painted in the front of the book, too.
𝗗𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘁/𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂?
* The storytelling was told in Jamaican patois, which was difficult to read as text, but easier to understand if heard on audio. That narrator was fabulous. I will say the story was just average and fizzled out in the middle for me. It felt like a crime-romance-memoir-cultural critique-all-in-one piece to me. I wanted more development.
𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗱?
* There were religious epigraphs before each chapter, which was fine, but then the story itself was doused in heavy religiosity, and it became OVERBEARING.
|| 𝗔𝗻 𝗢𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝗻𝗱𝘀 x Moses McKenzie ||
𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲?
* Yes, I think McKenzie is an interesting new voice and will write much better novels than this one.
𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿:
* In this novel, my favorite character is Nanny. Nanny is authentic and raw. Nanny is not ratting her drug-dealing grandbaby out to the police. She’s gonna cook you a big breakfast even after you’ve made her upset. Nanny loves you unconditionally.
𝗠𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆:
* One major takeaway for me is that the male characters, specifically Sayon and Pastor Lyle Jennings, go a majority of the storyline determining just how Shona will think about the “THING” Sayon has done and how it will affect their relationship. These men fail to allow this young woman to think for herself. McKenzie gives the female characters really flat dimensions. Women have voices—let them use them.
𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲𝘀/𝘀𝘂𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀:
* Loyalty
* Family & Love
* Morality
𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆?
* Somewhat, yes, it talks about religion and family. The town is referred to as Ends. Since the novel is full of religious imagery, I found in Revelation 11:4, there are two olive trees that symbolize the Holy Spirit's endless supply of anointing. Plus, there’s an olive grove with the family’s lineage painted in the front of the book, too.
𝗗𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘁/𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂?
* The storytelling was told in Jamaican patois, which was difficult to read as text, but easier to understand if heard on audio. That narrator was fabulous. I will say the story was just average and fizzled out in the middle for me. It felt like a crime-romance-memoir-cultural critique-all-in-one piece to me. I wanted more development.
𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗱?
* There were religious epigraphs before each chapter, which was fine, but then the story itself was doused in heavy religiosity, and it became OVERBEARING.
May 20, 2023
4.5/5 ⭐️ rounding up because I’m biased and this book was so enjoyable to me!!!!!
It’s written so beautifully, I love the characters, I love their interactions with each other, I appreciate how so many of them were flawed but (murder aside I guess) it wasn’t overbearing at all… I don’t know the story just WORKS bro!!!!
Big fan of young love in books.. it makes me want to jump out of the window in the best way possible. I like the emphasis on family. I loved the emphasis on faith. I also loved the fact that it was based in Bristol!
Yeah I loved this. I would compare reading this book to watching a tv show play out in front of you rather than watching a movie, as it’s more slow paced, but.. in a good way. I loved this 👏🏼
It’s written so beautifully, I love the characters, I love their interactions with each other, I appreciate how so many of them were flawed but (murder aside I guess) it wasn’t overbearing at all… I don’t know the story just WORKS bro!!!!
Big fan of young love in books.. it makes me want to jump out of the window in the best way possible. I like the emphasis on family. I loved the emphasis on faith. I also loved the fact that it was based in Bristol!
Yeah I loved this. I would compare reading this book to watching a tv show play out in front of you rather than watching a movie, as it’s more slow paced, but.. in a good way. I loved this 👏🏼
December 3, 2021
I was bowled over by this book. It's a Shakespearean tragedy about a sprawling family on the streets of Bristol which is also a meditation on faith, forgiveness and religion's place in the modern world. Heartbreaking and hypnotic, it's an accomplished debut. You're going to be hearing Moses' name for many years to come.
August 15, 2025
I read this book as part of a sort of personal project of reading books set in Bristol, which in turn I’m doing as a sort of way of trying to understand more about the city itself. Bristol is very segregated, particularly on class and race lines. The Bristol I inhabit, or people like me inhabit i.e. university educated, mostly middle class, white is quite different to the one the characters in this book inhabit. Both are in turn different to the experiences people living in the (mostly white, although that seems to changing somewhat) economically deprived areas of South Bristol e.g. Hartcliffe, Knowle West, have.
An Olive Grove in Ends follows a clever and self reflective young black man, Sayon, who lives with his Grandmother off Stapleton Road. Like much of his family before him, he has been to prison, “shots to nitties” (deals drugs to addicts) and is familiar with pretty ugly scenes of violence. His life is contradictory, however, much more than his cousin, partner in crime and best friend’s, Cuba. Sayon has a girlfriend, who is very in love with, who disapproves of his life to a large extent (although she is shown to be understanding and sympathetic in certain cases). This is largely due to her father, who Sayon competes with for her affection. Her father is a pastor, like Sayon’s parents, but he is portrayed as judgemental, bigoted and hypocritical. A grisly murder leads to Sayon being blackmailed by the Pastor, Pastor Lyle, and he struggles to keep up the charade of innocence, reverting back to a life of crime, before finding some sort of salvation by converting to Islam, in the fashion of his cousin, Hakim.
First of all, this book is very well written. It’s very thought provoking, and deals with lots of issues - religion, race, politics, inter-community strife, class, crime - the list goes on. Moses Mckensie has been rightly lauded as a very talented young author. You should definitely read this.
I suppose I wanted to offer some thoughts about this from a personal perspective.
Religion is dealt with in a really interesting way, it's portrayed as something that can help young men escape a life of crime, as a kind of salvation. Unfortunately, sometimes it seems the choice is between religion and being dead or in jail. Religion is portrayed as a sort of 12 step program for shotters. It keeps them off the road, and away from the consequences of their previous lives.
This in some ways brings me some disquiet. Honestly, I am not a big fan of religion, but Sayon’s choice to convert is portrayed as the most rational course of action in a sense. I somewhat question how much he believes in Islam, but perhaps this is deliberate. I suppose the grand sense of redemption that the book ends with feels somewhat strange given how bleak other parts of it are. That’s not to say that this is not dealt with in some ways, and religion is not beyond critique. Christianity, represented in the forms of both Sayon’s mother and Pastor Lyle. Both are irredeemable hypocrites, although there are parallels between Sayon’s mother’s enthusiasm for Christianity and his conversion to Islam - both are, to some extent, acts of escape. However, Sayon is far less of a hypocrite and he focuses more on his family, whereas his mother berates them whilst having little interest in being his mother.
There is a semi fictionalised beef between St Pauls and Easton. Semi fictionalised in that the scale to which it breaks out towards the end of the book, as far as I am aware, has not occurred for some time. There are ties between the two areas at certain points in the book, which are then broken when Sayon kills a boy from St Pauls who is attacking Cuba. This results in quite serious violence between young men from the two areas. It's interesting to read fictionalised accounts of these sorts of disputes, although the most concerning and violent one seems to be between Hartcliffe and Knowle West in Bristol at the moment (see my Shawnie review for more on that).
Another inter community dispute I was not aware of before I came to Bristol is the mistreatment of Somali people by predominantly Jamaican British people when they first came here in the 90s. This is covered in this book quite extensively - Sayon has friends whose families have come from Somaliland and Somalia. He outlines the similarities between Caribbean food and Somali food. He states explicitly that Somali people should have been welcomed more than they were, and remonstrates with Pastor Lyle when he talks of “Somalians” in one of his many bigoted rants.
Race, particularly the divide between white and black people in Bristol, is also touched upon. Sayon talks about white people “retreating to Stokes Croft” after St Pauls Carnival, where he recounts him witnessing his older cousins mugging someone, and to “St Marks Road” in Easton. Without saying much at all, this pretty much sums up the segregation that is present in Bristol. Another testament to Mckensie’s powers of observation and talent as a writer. There is also some mention of other areas of Bristol. Places like Hillfields, where Cuba sometimes deals, and also an area I’m assuming is meant to be Knowle West that is described as being a White Working class estate that Cuba and Sayon go and pick their addict cousin up from after she has been seeing a punter there. The name is not mentioned, which is interesting. Sayon talks of being uncomfortable in that kind of area - again, I think this highlights the level of separateness that there is between different areas of Bristol.
Overall, I really enjoyed this. It's definitely quite a sad read at points, but there is some redemption at the end of the novel. I like the reflectiveness that is present here; and although this book can feel mournful it also does have rays of hope. I also really enjoy books like Trainspotting where accents and dialects are written down, so that was another plus for me. The characters are also well crafted and often very funny.
An Olive Grove in Ends follows a clever and self reflective young black man, Sayon, who lives with his Grandmother off Stapleton Road. Like much of his family before him, he has been to prison, “shots to nitties” (deals drugs to addicts) and is familiar with pretty ugly scenes of violence. His life is contradictory, however, much more than his cousin, partner in crime and best friend’s, Cuba. Sayon has a girlfriend, who is very in love with, who disapproves of his life to a large extent (although she is shown to be understanding and sympathetic in certain cases). This is largely due to her father, who Sayon competes with for her affection. Her father is a pastor, like Sayon’s parents, but he is portrayed as judgemental, bigoted and hypocritical. A grisly murder leads to Sayon being blackmailed by the Pastor, Pastor Lyle, and he struggles to keep up the charade of innocence, reverting back to a life of crime, before finding some sort of salvation by converting to Islam, in the fashion of his cousin, Hakim.
First of all, this book is very well written. It’s very thought provoking, and deals with lots of issues - religion, race, politics, inter-community strife, class, crime - the list goes on. Moses Mckensie has been rightly lauded as a very talented young author. You should definitely read this.
I suppose I wanted to offer some thoughts about this from a personal perspective.
Religion is dealt with in a really interesting way, it's portrayed as something that can help young men escape a life of crime, as a kind of salvation. Unfortunately, sometimes it seems the choice is between religion and being dead or in jail. Religion is portrayed as a sort of 12 step program for shotters. It keeps them off the road, and away from the consequences of their previous lives.
This in some ways brings me some disquiet. Honestly, I am not a big fan of religion, but Sayon’s choice to convert is portrayed as the most rational course of action in a sense. I somewhat question how much he believes in Islam, but perhaps this is deliberate. I suppose the grand sense of redemption that the book ends with feels somewhat strange given how bleak other parts of it are. That’s not to say that this is not dealt with in some ways, and religion is not beyond critique. Christianity, represented in the forms of both Sayon’s mother and Pastor Lyle. Both are irredeemable hypocrites, although there are parallels between Sayon’s mother’s enthusiasm for Christianity and his conversion to Islam - both are, to some extent, acts of escape. However, Sayon is far less of a hypocrite and he focuses more on his family, whereas his mother berates them whilst having little interest in being his mother.
There is a semi fictionalised beef between St Pauls and Easton. Semi fictionalised in that the scale to which it breaks out towards the end of the book, as far as I am aware, has not occurred for some time. There are ties between the two areas at certain points in the book, which are then broken when Sayon kills a boy from St Pauls who is attacking Cuba. This results in quite serious violence between young men from the two areas. It's interesting to read fictionalised accounts of these sorts of disputes, although the most concerning and violent one seems to be between Hartcliffe and Knowle West in Bristol at the moment (see my Shawnie review for more on that).
Another inter community dispute I was not aware of before I came to Bristol is the mistreatment of Somali people by predominantly Jamaican British people when they first came here in the 90s. This is covered in this book quite extensively - Sayon has friends whose families have come from Somaliland and Somalia. He outlines the similarities between Caribbean food and Somali food. He states explicitly that Somali people should have been welcomed more than they were, and remonstrates with Pastor Lyle when he talks of “Somalians” in one of his many bigoted rants.
Race, particularly the divide between white and black people in Bristol, is also touched upon. Sayon talks about white people “retreating to Stokes Croft” after St Pauls Carnival, where he recounts him witnessing his older cousins mugging someone, and to “St Marks Road” in Easton. Without saying much at all, this pretty much sums up the segregation that is present in Bristol. Another testament to Mckensie’s powers of observation and talent as a writer. There is also some mention of other areas of Bristol. Places like Hillfields, where Cuba sometimes deals, and also an area I’m assuming is meant to be Knowle West that is described as being a White Working class estate that Cuba and Sayon go and pick their addict cousin up from after she has been seeing a punter there. The name is not mentioned, which is interesting. Sayon talks of being uncomfortable in that kind of area - again, I think this highlights the level of separateness that there is between different areas of Bristol.
Overall, I really enjoyed this. It's definitely quite a sad read at points, but there is some redemption at the end of the novel. I like the reflectiveness that is present here; and although this book can feel mournful it also does have rays of hope. I also really enjoy books like Trainspotting where accents and dialects are written down, so that was another plus for me. The characters are also well crafted and often very funny.
June 23, 2022
I didn’t care for this one. It’s set in a hard, violent place, a neighbourhood in Bristol that the locals call “Ends” (if that helps you get a handle on the title), home to Jamaican immigrants who came in starting in the 1950s and Somalis in the 1990s. There are clashes between the groups, based on religion and just because, and between neighbourhoods. Sayon, our anti-hero, is a member of the large Hughes family, which is well known to police and behind a lot of the crime in the area. He’s in love with Shona, has been since grade school, and she loves him too in spite of his family and his own less than squeaky clean record. Sayon wants a better life with Shona, and the only way he thinks he can earn the kind of money they’ll need to get away, as he sees it, is to deal drugs for his cousin Cuba. He knows street life is grim—there are knives and guns everywhere—though he seems to pretty easily dismiss his responsibility for the lives blighted by the heroin and crack they’re selling, including his cousin Winnie. (“If we don’t sell it to them, they’ll just buy it from someone else.”) Then, one night, in defending his cousin Cuba, he knifes someone to death. He’s later learns he was seen by three witnesses, and though none seems ready (yet) to inform on him, the risk is there. Blackmail soon enters the picture, and he knows that if Shona learns he’s killed, that will be it for them.
The Jamaican patois is almost impenetrably thick; it was at times a real struggle for me to understand. And I just couldn’t get attached to any of the characters, even the ones I think we’re meant to care about, chiefly Sayon. He’s presented as bright, with a dream for a better life, but to me he’s pretty much just a thug until the day he moves into the big leagues by becoming a murderer. I think we’re meant to see that the environment was such that Sayon had no real choices other than those he made, and that he killed a man in defence of a cousin who was more like a brother to him—so really not his fault, right? Just not buying any of it.
The Jamaican patois is almost impenetrably thick; it was at times a real struggle for me to understand. And I just couldn’t get attached to any of the characters, even the ones I think we’re meant to care about, chiefly Sayon. He’s presented as bright, with a dream for a better life, but to me he’s pretty much just a thug until the day he moves into the big leagues by becoming a murderer. I think we’re meant to see that the environment was such that Sayon had no real choices other than those he made, and that he killed a man in defence of a cousin who was more like a brother to him—so really not his fault, right? Just not buying any of it.
July 5, 2024
Set in my city of Bristol, Sayon is just trying g to get buy. He is in love with his girl Shorna, trying to keep peace within his notoriously known drug gang family and has his dreams of one day moving to the wealthiest constitution in the city, Clifton. When Sayon gets in the involved in a murder, Sayon has to figure out who to trust and how to stop his world from crumbling.
What I loved :
- I thoroughly enjoyed the rawness of the writing throughout the novel!! The depiction of class struggle, Bristol, morality and family felt real and honest!
-the characters! Especially Nanny.. The matriarch of Sayon family. Despite the gang culture, violence and inequality Nanny is the greatest example of unconditional love!
What I did not love :
- the narritve of the novel really made the book hard to follow and keep in track!
- it is HEAVY on religious context which generally felt unnecessary at time and ngl lost my interest at times!
Overall definitely liked this Novel and cannot wait to see what else Moses Mckensie writes!!
What I loved :
- I thoroughly enjoyed the rawness of the writing throughout the novel!! The depiction of class struggle, Bristol, morality and family felt real and honest!
-the characters! Especially Nanny.. The matriarch of Sayon family. Despite the gang culture, violence and inequality Nanny is the greatest example of unconditional love!
What I did not love :
- the narritve of the novel really made the book hard to follow and keep in track!
- it is HEAVY on religious context which generally felt unnecessary at time and ngl lost my interest at times!
Overall definitely liked this Novel and cannot wait to see what else Moses Mckensie writes!!
January 27, 2025
(3.25) not in love with the writing style (SO MANY convoluted and unnecessary similes oh my god, although my copy is an uncorrected proof so not sure if they all made it into the final edition) but nevertheless it’s so clear the huge amount of love that went into this story. it’s really refreshing to read a book set in bristol, especially one with a focus on the beauty, loyalty and tenderness found in an area like easton, which is often dismissed as dangerous or “dodgy” by the white middle class. loved the characters of shona, elia and nanny the most: all three take control of their situations despite the men and societal structures that might try to keep them powerless.
July 22, 2023
I feel like this was a rare piece of writing that feels like a memoir of someone reflecting on a lifetime of experience. The fact Moses McKenzie was 23 when this was published makes it all the more confronting. It’s a huge reality check to someone who has lived in Clifton also.
I did feel like the reflections when living with the Pastor could have been shorter and I found my eyes skipping over some of that, but really not very much and that’s a weak criticism at best.
Cuba is a character the likes of which I’ve never read before. He affects you to your core, especially his reactions to Sayons final piece of news confronting with what actually occurs (no spoilers here)!!
This is such a crucial piece of Bristolian literature. Phonetic transcription wasn’t a distraction at all either. Must read for any Bristol local!!
I did feel like the reflections when living with the Pastor could have been shorter and I found my eyes skipping over some of that, but really not very much and that’s a weak criticism at best.
Cuba is a character the likes of which I’ve never read before. He affects you to your core, especially his reactions to Sayons final piece of news confronting with what actually occurs (no spoilers here)!!
This is such a crucial piece of Bristolian literature. Phonetic transcription wasn’t a distraction at all either. Must read for any Bristol local!!
January 8, 2024
Incredible
This is well-deserving of a 5 out of 5. There is so much to unpack. I just hope there are more stories like this. It was so cinematic and felt real. I loved the overall message and it was such a deep story I cannot wait to peel back the layers in my book review. But this is a must read!!
This is well-deserving of a 5 out of 5. There is so much to unpack. I just hope there are more stories like this. It was so cinematic and felt real. I loved the overall message and it was such a deep story I cannot wait to peel back the layers in my book review. But this is a must read!!
September 30, 2025
So amazing! So so amazing
Wow. So good. Set around Stapleton Road - captured so intensely and so beautifully. So many characters all so intense and amazing.
Amazing writing - gritty and violent whilst also being lyrical and soft and romantic.
Interesting themes of religion and morality and right and wrong - crazy that I read this and knew what some of the main characters had done but was so detached from judgements of right and wrong good and bad. Very much argues that people are products of their environments and should not be judged but only loved. Which normally I’m not quite on board with but in the context of this I didn’t want anyone to face retribution for what they’d done - felt like somehow they were all blameless.
I cried through the last 30 pages. ‘God - Allah - is love’. Let me be love
Wow. So good. Set around Stapleton Road - captured so intensely and so beautifully. So many characters all so intense and amazing.
Amazing writing - gritty and violent whilst also being lyrical and soft and romantic.
Interesting themes of religion and morality and right and wrong - crazy that I read this and knew what some of the main characters had done but was so detached from judgements of right and wrong good and bad. Very much argues that people are products of their environments and should not be judged but only loved. Which normally I’m not quite on board with but in the context of this I didn’t want anyone to face retribution for what they’d done - felt like somehow they were all blameless.
I cried through the last 30 pages. ‘God - Allah - is love’. Let me be love
March 15, 2023
100/10
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