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England Is Mine
David hates school, where he has been bullied, and has reached sixth form without any friends. Music is the only thing that keeps him going. Inspired by his hero, Karl Williams, he becomes vegan, wears eyeliner and writes song lyrics. But one night onstage Karl Williams accuses Muslims of homophobia and is cancelled. Conflicted by his feelings for his favourite artist and compelled by the conversations he has while playing Call of Duty , David becomes more and more fascinated by the far right's narratives of masculinity in conflict with liberal society.
Living in the same East London borough as David, Hassan has his own problems. He is drifting apart from his childhood friends, Mo and Ibrahim, who drink, blaze skunk and mock him for hanging out at the Muslim youth centre, where he is older than everyone else. Determined to make something of himself, he volunteers for his local mosque and works hard to try to get the grades he needs to go to university.
As these second-generation immigrants struggle for a sense of identity and belonging - amid a wave of online radicalisation and extremism - their fates become inextricably, catastrophically entwined.
Living in the same East London borough as David, Hassan has his own problems. He is drifting apart from his childhood friends, Mo and Ibrahim, who drink, blaze skunk and mock him for hanging out at the Muslim youth centre, where he is older than everyone else. Determined to make something of himself, he volunteers for his local mosque and works hard to try to get the grades he needs to go to university.
As these second-generation immigrants struggle for a sense of identity and belonging - amid a wave of online radicalisation and extremism - their fates become inextricably, catastrophically entwined.
328 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 11, 2024
21 people are currently reading
1117 people want to read
About the author
Nicolas Padamsee
1 book11 followersNicolas Padamsee grew up in Essex. He holds an MA and a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia, and is one of the Observer's best new novelists for 2024. He is the editor of Arts Against Extremism. He splits his time between Norwich and Upton Park, London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
May 13, 2024
The lives of two young men, both second-generation immigrants, become fatefully intertwined as they head down very different paths. David’s descent into a racist, right-wing online rabbit hole is spurred on by the media cancellation of his long-time idol, the singer Karl Williams (an obvious stand-in for Morrissey, as the book’s title makes clear). Meanwhile, his Muslim classmate Hassan starts to feel alienated from his friends, who are getting into drinking and drugs. A violent encounter in a park sets both boys on a collision course, and an increasingly tense narrative, which switches between the characters, builds to a dramatic climax.
England is Mine is written in a very direct style, and I found some of the plain description jarring at first. The recitation of factual details, like brand names, makes it seem unpolished, possibly too simplistic. As I read on, though, I became more and more convinced by this approach – it feels true to the characters’ inner monologues, especially in the case of David, whose thinking becomes more binary as the story gathers pace. This simplicity works to strip the story back to its essence, so it becomes something like a police statement in which only factual details are permissible.
It’s always clear which ‘side’ Padamsee’s narrative is on and what sort of message it’s striving to convey. For all that, I never found it didactic and it remains sickeningly believable to the end (with a horrible irony woven into the ending). It’s a smart balance, written to be comprehensible to readers outside the worlds its characters move through, and given the unadorned style I’m pleasantly surprised at how much it’s stayed with me.
England is Mine is written in a very direct style, and I found some of the plain description jarring at first. The recitation of factual details, like brand names, makes it seem unpolished, possibly too simplistic. As I read on, though, I became more and more convinced by this approach – it feels true to the characters’ inner monologues, especially in the case of David, whose thinking becomes more binary as the story gathers pace. This simplicity works to strip the story back to its essence, so it becomes something like a police statement in which only factual details are permissible.
It’s always clear which ‘side’ Padamsee’s narrative is on and what sort of message it’s striving to convey. For all that, I never found it didactic and it remains sickeningly believable to the end (with a horrible irony woven into the ending). It’s a smart balance, written to be comprehensible to readers outside the worlds its characters move through, and given the unadorned style I’m pleasantly surprised at how much it’s stayed with me.
July 14, 2024
Harrowingly brilliant! This was such an intelligent interrogation of racial identity in the UK and a hugely convincing account of a journey into radicalisation. Completely gripping as the book leads you towards it's devastating conclusion. An incredible debut!
April 24, 2024
One of the rawest books I have read in a while. Padamsee draws right from reality in this book. This book is a terrifying, realistic account of UK race relations in the modern age. The references to internet culture, and its effect on young minds, can be slightly warped at times, but it is a very good portrayal of the argument that the problems with social media derive from its users, not the tool itself.
It was so interesting to see the degradation of David' character. The devices that Padamsee uses are incredibly effective- he is a master at conveying feeling through text, and doesn't shy away from making you hate his characters. Speaking of the characters: every person he writes feel so real. They feel like individuals you could actually meet, which makes it all the more heart-breaking towards the end.
I thought that it was very interesting choice to use a dual perspective. I'm assuming that the switch between Hassan and David's point of view was to show how social media and online gaming can both save and fail us, but it seems to miss it's mark a little towards the end.
Overall, a poignant tale of belonging, masculinity and race. It ticks all the right boxes for me.
It was so interesting to see the degradation of David' character. The devices that Padamsee uses are incredibly effective- he is a master at conveying feeling through text, and doesn't shy away from making you hate his characters. Speaking of the characters: every person he writes feel so real. They feel like individuals you could actually meet, which makes it all the more heart-breaking towards the end.
I thought that it was very interesting choice to use a dual perspective. I'm assuming that the switch between Hassan and David's point of view was to show how social media and online gaming can both save and fail us, but it seems to miss it's mark a little towards the end.
Overall, a poignant tale of belonging, masculinity and race. It ticks all the right boxes for me.
March 31, 2025
Heavy read. Follows the incremental far-right radicalisation of a character who I somehow still had empathy for, right to the end of the book. It was darkly realistic and I commend the author for writing with so much nuance, taking us along on the journey as the character’s mind turned so far in on itself.
I’m left feeling so chilled, sad, sick.. As I said, heavy. Read with caution, but I do recommend if you’re interested in the dark side of online communities, alienation, trauma, how to empathise and teach without pushing people further into their echo chamber, how to listen.
I’m left feeling so chilled, sad, sick.. As I said, heavy. Read with caution, but I do recommend if you’re interested in the dark side of online communities, alienation, trauma, how to empathise and teach without pushing people further into their echo chamber, how to listen.
May 1, 2024
Brilliant in its realia (music, football, e-gaming, language) and portrayal of a story we hear about a lot but don't want to think about deeper. The only disappointment is the ending, coming slightly too soon, standing in a way of a proper kick in the gut.
December 1, 2024
this was so raw and such a strong debut addressing far right extremism and islamophobia- two things SO prevalent in the media. set in the UK it felt very relatable, and showed a real insight into how people get into extremist circles / these communities. anyway, also extremely devastating and close to home as a pakistani woman… big fat recommendation
September 16, 2025
Even more relevant today than it was when it was published last year. Really harrowing but an important read
November 13, 2025
This was fantastic. Totally believable descent into radicalisation online is depicted and also a really interesting exploration of race and idenitity in modern Britain. Hugely pertinent - I was hooked from start to finish. Excited to see what this author does next. I judged this book by its cover at the library and it paid off!
May 25, 2024
A really riveting and heartbreaking read, Padamsee manages to weave a very compelling narrative of two boys caught in the midst of class, race and cultural clashes in contemporary London. He manages to use chat room and internet dialogue in a way that feels authentic and well understood.
A brilliant first novel, can’t wait to see what he does next.
A brilliant first novel, can’t wait to see what he does next.
April 14, 2025
Nicolas Padamsee’s England Is Mine dredged up a lot in me as a reader. I’m still processing, so hang with me for a minute.
As one of the Internet’s resident Old Dudes, I readily admit I don’t know what it’s like to be a boy or a young man today. First off, I don’t have kids of my own to give me firsthand experience. I see a lot of conjecture and speculation online and in traditional media, and it’s part of the dialogue in my teaching, but even when I try to filter my own experiences growing up through how I imagine social media might have affected me, I’m kind of clueless.
So when I see depictions and discussions of 21st Century boyhood, I’m always torn between taking it with a grain of salt – “It can’t really be that bad, can it?” – and being absolutely terrified for my two young nephews who have to contend with these pressures in real time.
Netflix’s recent series Adolescence of course gives us one way of looking at the supposed “male loneliness epidemic.” It pretty explicitly (and fairly, I’d say) lays the blame squarely at the feet of social media and especially the Andrew Tates and Jordan Petersons of the world. In essence, the boys who are taught early on that women are the enemy, or possessions to be acquired, grow into the men who eventually terrorize them. This is compounded, the show argues, by the fathers who don’t know how to talk to their sons about emotions and fail to give them the language and strategies to cope with them.
So look: since I first heard the term “male loneliness epidemic” and saw it used as an excuse for some profoundly shitty behavior, it always felt pretty silly and disingenuous. I was once a lonely male with an emotionally distant father of my own, and all I did was listen obsessively to The Smiths in my bedroom while wishing I could style my hair like Morrissey. I didn’t have a girlfriend, but that wasn’t the fault of anything but the genes that gave me a goofy face and a prematurely receding hairline. I certainly didn’t blame any of the girls who turned down my overtures for making what felt even then like a logical, common sense decision.
But, to return to my first paragraph, a lot has changed since then, and I obviously didn’t have the Internet to manipulate whatever despondency I might have been feeling. It’s easy to see how a vulnerable, impressionable boy, in the vacuum created by the lack of an empathetic male role model, could be drawn to the blatant misogyny espoused online. After all, as it’s so frequently sold to these boys, to hate women – or to ascribe the blame for your problems on them – is to take control of your own destiny. If you’re a kid who feels powerless, that’s scarily attractive.
Enter England Is Mine, which takes the general argument made by Adolescence and looks at it from another angle by asking this question: how do online communities result in the radicalization of young men?
Nicolas Padamsee answers this question by crafting parallel narratives focusing on two London teenagers, David and Hassan. David is a diehard fan of singer Karl Williams, who makes waves from the stage one night by spouting some Islamophobic comments, framed (as racist comments often are) as “just asking questions.” A very thinly veiled Morrissey – who, for the uninitiated, has dabbled in nationalist iconography since at least the early ‘90s before embracing it wholeheartedly in recent years – Williams’s malign speculation gets David asking questions of his own about his rapidly diversifying neighborhood. After he’s assaulted by two teens – Mo and Ibrahim – one afternoon, his “questioning” quickly becomes dogma.
David’s journey is complemented by that of Hassan, a Muslim boy present for David’s assault. Disgusted by his friends’ actions and harboring vague aspirations for university, Hassan withdraws from Mo and Ibrahim, retreating into a community service program implemented by his mosque and becoming more and more involved in an online FIFA league.
Both protagonists are compelling creations. David is the vegan, eyeliner-wearing son of an Iranian woman, who nonetheless finds himself tumbling down the rabbit hole of far-right racism courtesy of a Call of Duty team. It’s hard not to feel sympathy for David, even though he’s not an inherently sympathetic character. Picked on at school, working a dead-end job, and shuttled between his divorced parents – a mother he perceives as overbearing and a shut-in father who gives him the run of the house – David is easy prey for the toxic personalities in his COD alliance and the persuasive camaraderie they represent. Hassan is similarly rudderless, but by channeling his energy into his mosque’s outreach program (he’s responsible for a 30-minute phone conversation each week with an elderly person assigned to him) and his growing success in FIFA tournaments, he finds a purpose that had previously been lacking when Mo and Ibrahim dictated how he spent his time.
By the end of the book – as David’s online activity escalates from words to action – the two parallel narratives are destined to intersect. I’m still trying to figure out how Padamsee did it, but he deftly juxtaposes these two online communities without ever resorting to heavy-handed sermonizing. Represented largely through chat transcripts, we can see the seething cauldron of racism David spends his time with, but we also see how Hassan’s FIFA league is both inclusive and supportive, led largely by the positive influence of Hassan himself. We watch with mounting dread as the collision between these two boys becomes inevitable.
England Is Mine is designed to deliver blunt-force trauma. Padamsee relates the events clinically, dispassionately, and even though he resists painting David as an easy villain, it’s plain to see which side of the debate he comes down on. By the end, the novel – one of the best I’ll read this year – isn’t just a searing critique of masculinity and extremism, it’s a plea for all of us to try harder. Do better. BE better.
As one of the Internet’s resident Old Dudes, I readily admit I don’t know what it’s like to be a boy or a young man today. First off, I don’t have kids of my own to give me firsthand experience. I see a lot of conjecture and speculation online and in traditional media, and it’s part of the dialogue in my teaching, but even when I try to filter my own experiences growing up through how I imagine social media might have affected me, I’m kind of clueless.
So when I see depictions and discussions of 21st Century boyhood, I’m always torn between taking it with a grain of salt – “It can’t really be that bad, can it?” – and being absolutely terrified for my two young nephews who have to contend with these pressures in real time.
Netflix’s recent series Adolescence of course gives us one way of looking at the supposed “male loneliness epidemic.” It pretty explicitly (and fairly, I’d say) lays the blame squarely at the feet of social media and especially the Andrew Tates and Jordan Petersons of the world. In essence, the boys who are taught early on that women are the enemy, or possessions to be acquired, grow into the men who eventually terrorize them. This is compounded, the show argues, by the fathers who don’t know how to talk to their sons about emotions and fail to give them the language and strategies to cope with them.
So look: since I first heard the term “male loneliness epidemic” and saw it used as an excuse for some profoundly shitty behavior, it always felt pretty silly and disingenuous. I was once a lonely male with an emotionally distant father of my own, and all I did was listen obsessively to The Smiths in my bedroom while wishing I could style my hair like Morrissey. I didn’t have a girlfriend, but that wasn’t the fault of anything but the genes that gave me a goofy face and a prematurely receding hairline. I certainly didn’t blame any of the girls who turned down my overtures for making what felt even then like a logical, common sense decision.
But, to return to my first paragraph, a lot has changed since then, and I obviously didn’t have the Internet to manipulate whatever despondency I might have been feeling. It’s easy to see how a vulnerable, impressionable boy, in the vacuum created by the lack of an empathetic male role model, could be drawn to the blatant misogyny espoused online. After all, as it’s so frequently sold to these boys, to hate women – or to ascribe the blame for your problems on them – is to take control of your own destiny. If you’re a kid who feels powerless, that’s scarily attractive.
Enter England Is Mine, which takes the general argument made by Adolescence and looks at it from another angle by asking this question: how do online communities result in the radicalization of young men?
Nicolas Padamsee answers this question by crafting parallel narratives focusing on two London teenagers, David and Hassan. David is a diehard fan of singer Karl Williams, who makes waves from the stage one night by spouting some Islamophobic comments, framed (as racist comments often are) as “just asking questions.” A very thinly veiled Morrissey – who, for the uninitiated, has dabbled in nationalist iconography since at least the early ‘90s before embracing it wholeheartedly in recent years – Williams’s malign speculation gets David asking questions of his own about his rapidly diversifying neighborhood. After he’s assaulted by two teens – Mo and Ibrahim – one afternoon, his “questioning” quickly becomes dogma.
David’s journey is complemented by that of Hassan, a Muslim boy present for David’s assault. Disgusted by his friends’ actions and harboring vague aspirations for university, Hassan withdraws from Mo and Ibrahim, retreating into a community service program implemented by his mosque and becoming more and more involved in an online FIFA league.
Both protagonists are compelling creations. David is the vegan, eyeliner-wearing son of an Iranian woman, who nonetheless finds himself tumbling down the rabbit hole of far-right racism courtesy of a Call of Duty team. It’s hard not to feel sympathy for David, even though he’s not an inherently sympathetic character. Picked on at school, working a dead-end job, and shuttled between his divorced parents – a mother he perceives as overbearing and a shut-in father who gives him the run of the house – David is easy prey for the toxic personalities in his COD alliance and the persuasive camaraderie they represent. Hassan is similarly rudderless, but by channeling his energy into his mosque’s outreach program (he’s responsible for a 30-minute phone conversation each week with an elderly person assigned to him) and his growing success in FIFA tournaments, he finds a purpose that had previously been lacking when Mo and Ibrahim dictated how he spent his time.
By the end of the book – as David’s online activity escalates from words to action – the two parallel narratives are destined to intersect. I’m still trying to figure out how Padamsee did it, but he deftly juxtaposes these two online communities without ever resorting to heavy-handed sermonizing. Represented largely through chat transcripts, we can see the seething cauldron of racism David spends his time with, but we also see how Hassan’s FIFA league is both inclusive and supportive, led largely by the positive influence of Hassan himself. We watch with mounting dread as the collision between these two boys becomes inevitable.
England Is Mine is designed to deliver blunt-force trauma. Padamsee relates the events clinically, dispassionately, and even though he resists painting David as an easy villain, it’s plain to see which side of the debate he comes down on. By the end, the novel – one of the best I’ll read this year – isn’t just a searing critique of masculinity and extremism, it’s a plea for all of us to try harder. Do better. BE better.
June 1, 2025
Waanzinnig goed boek. Gaat over twee jongens, hun ervaringen met toenemende islamofobie en de manier waarop zij daarmee omgaan. Ik zal niet te veel verklappen verder, maar het is een heel actueel boek en kan deze aan iedereen aanraden!
August 31, 2024
Such a 'me' book but don't care lol
August 15, 2025
I really liked the 21st Century This is England style the book was going for. Just, other than the main characters, it didn't really connect for me in the way I wanted it to.
November 4, 2025
Very poignant story which was was very well written. I felt that it could of been longer, exploring the aftermath of the ending, and still remained interesting.
would definitely recommend to read this, as it is as relevant now as when it was first published, and it's insight into ALL British people is very in point, and probably surprising to some.
would definitely recommend to read this, as it is as relevant now as when it was first published, and it's insight into ALL British people is very in point, and probably surprising to some.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 27, 2025
this blew me away. a gripping and incredibly touching work of empathy which illuminates some of the darkest spaces in contemporary britain, but without ever losing its nuance or humanity. rare book which left me feeling a need to proselytise for other people to read it. read it!
April 8, 2025
Three feels mean more like 3.5- at points some of the dialogue felt a bit contrived but v readable and an interesting premise
July 23, 2025
v topical debut novel which tackles the complex topics of radicalisation and masculinity with empathy and sensitivity, would recommend to all interested in learning more about the rise of alt right beliefs in young men
September 12, 2024
Absolutely stormed through this book - a real whirlwind story of a young man's life as he slowly gets radicalised online. Chilling and yet so relevant and timely. It's no literary masterpiece and the writing style is very pedestrian but nevertheless extremely readable, pacy and exciting beginning to end.
February 22, 2025
this one is gonna stay with me for a long time. the characters felt so true to life and all the awful things that happened actually hurt to read.
i thought the process of how david got radicalised was so terrifyingly realistic because it really doesn’t only happen to one-dimensional evil people. david genuinely seemed so kind and thoughtful and the way he identified with and cared for his dad was so real and touching. that’s the terrifying bit i guess – you understand why he’s heading down the path he is and you keep waiting for something good to happen, for something to stop him before it’s too late. but it doesn’t and you see the good in him disappear completely.
i wonder how his family felt in the end. everyone who knew him, really. i wonder what his dad thought when he found out and it honestly pains me so much.
i’ve also read a few reviews saying hassan’s point of view wasn’t necessary but honestly? i loved reading his story and am glad he was there.
i thought the process of how david got radicalised was so terrifyingly realistic because it really doesn’t only happen to one-dimensional evil people. david genuinely seemed so kind and thoughtful and the way he identified with and cared for his dad was so real and touching. that’s the terrifying bit i guess – you understand why he’s heading down the path he is and you keep waiting for something good to happen, for something to stop him before it’s too late. but it doesn’t and you see the good in him disappear completely.
i wonder how his family felt in the end. everyone who knew him, really. i wonder what his dad thought when he found out and it honestly pains me so much.
i’ve also read a few reviews saying hassan’s point of view wasn’t necessary but honestly? i loved reading his story and am glad he was there.
October 19, 2024
A visceral response to the rise of social media driven by people with racist, religious and political agendas. How social disconnection and isolation can support the radicalisation of youth and the warped messaging are issues that seem to be confronting us daily. As a person that does not rely on social media and has not had to face extreme prejudice it is confronting but not difficult for me to see how influential and effective hate influences can be. This novel steadily builds in tension until the ending which ultimately feels unavoidable. The characters of David and Hassan are both empathetically written and felt very real. A terrific debut novel.
December 30, 2024
Excellent 👌 This perfectly captured how a young person can be so easily radicalised and the descent from a relatively normal life to one of extremism. It also captures how young people can choose the opposite path and not be radicalised.
The thing I loved most about this story was that it was told the complete opposite way round to what you’d generally “expect” or what is more commonly heard/assumed. No spoilers but this was a fantastic, compelling take and kept me drawn in until the very last page
The thing I loved most about this story was that it was told the complete opposite way round to what you’d generally “expect” or what is more commonly heard/assumed. No spoilers but this was a fantastic, compelling take and kept me drawn in until the very last page
July 25, 2024
Phenomenal! I read this book in 2 days & was completely taken with it. Padamsee has created thought provoking, multilayered characters in such a raw setting. The prevalent themes of finding one’s sense of identity, religion and culture & the ways radicalism can occur were masterfully done.
Eagerly awaiting Padamsee’s next novel! Couldn’t recommend it enough.
Eagerly awaiting Padamsee’s next novel! Couldn’t recommend it enough.
April 30, 2024
This book made me feel sick while I was reading it. Which I think is kind of the point. It made the radicalisation of David seem so reasonable and understandable. My only issue with this book was the dual perspective, which I think detracted from the overall message of the novel.
December 10, 2024
Longlisted for the 2025 Gordon Burn Prize
This book featured in the 2024 version of the influential and frequently literary-prize-prescient annual Observer Best Debut Novelist feature (last year included Tom Crewe. Michael Magee and Jacqueline Crooks – and previous years have featured Natasha Brown, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Douglas Stuart, Sally Rooney, Rebecca Watson, Yara Rodrigues Fowler, JR Thorp Bonnie Garmus, Gail Honeyman among many others).
Nicolas Padamsee is the founder and editor of the website Arts Against Extremism (https://www.artsagainstextremism.org/) which publishes “poetry, flash fiction, short stories and novel excerpts that tackle the subject of extremism – blurring black-and-white narratives and encouraging empathy for those ‘beyond the bounds of our personal lot’ – as well as interviews and essays that consider how art can help to stem the tide of radicalisation.” – and this novel fits that aim almost exactly.
It was written as the creative part of the author’s PhD Thesis at the UEA – and the more theory part is I think this document (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/1...) which is equally helpful in understanding the novel and its origins in an attempt to go back to the writing of Dostoevsky as a way to examine extremism and its interactions with social media/online experiences (which he argues was an element missing from most contemporary novels on extremism) – with Dostoevsky’s recognition of the impact of newspapers on radicalism as well as the use of polyphony (particularly in “Crime and Punishment”) proving a useful starting point.
At different points he says (on polyphony): “A contemporary novelist writing about extremism could in this vein bring together, say, a liberal white boomer, a woke white Gen Zer, a first-generation Iranian immigrant who fled their birthplace after the Islamic Revolution, and a second-generation immigrant desperate for a sense of identity.”, on physical setting “a contemporary novelist could set the narrative in London, with conservative Muslims, liberal Muslims, racists and far-right extremists all living in a deprived outer borough. On a character’s walk home from a Tube station, they could plausibly pass a mosque, a pub, a kebab shop and a newsagent and be required to take underpasses, where all sorts of kids could hang out. The structures of family and school could provide further dialogic opportunities. A character could attend a local state school in the outer borough, but also spend time in an up-and- coming, fashionable borough where one parent has moved with a new partner. When the action takes place online, a common meeting place could be a comments section on the Guardian. The comments section for a review of an album by an artist with politically controversial opinions would draw haters (who want to celebrate a negative review they feel is deserved) as well as loyal fans (who want to defend the artist and their right to hold politically controversial opinions, if not the opinions themselves). Any of the characters could conceivably find their way here.”, about the characters journey “After swinging from the left to the right, their protagonist could find themselves needing to find a new tribe online, a new target audience, and gradually move further and further right under the pressures of social media’s like economy, until they start retweeting members of Generation Identity. Everyone who used to follow the protagonist, while they were on the left, would stop following them. They could then end up in a totally monologic echo chamber where everyone is, indeed, singing the same song in the same way. But this song would be a nationalist one.”
All of which (and much more) could serve itself as a review of this novel.
And returning directly to it – the main character is David (half Iranian on his mother’s side), studying at Sixth Form but suffering something of an identity crisis. Something of a loner he was bullied at primary school (by white pupils) for his mixed heritage, and now at Sixth Form for his rather asexual dress, eyeliner and vegan lifestyle (which is motivated by his love of the singer Karl Williams). His parents have separated – his father (an electrician) living in Newbury Park – where the two of them survive on convenience food and repeat watching of episodes of “Only Fools and Horses”; his mother - who works for an left win NGO – living with a man who works for Amnesty and with Karl’s SJW (social justice warrior) step sister.
It is in his love for Williams that gives him his initial identity – the book opening with a great description of a concert he attends with his stepsister at Brixton Academy (and a – for me at least – Proustian description of a sticky beer soaked floor) where for once he feels part of a wider movement.
But when some remarks Karl makes about Islamists protest about sex education outside a school (basically questioning the compatibility of Islam with Western liberalism) cause his hero to be cancelled, David decides to double down on his following of Karl – and when he is beaten up by three Muslim students at his school it only encourages him to turn from the more left wing sites he previously followed to those which sympathise with Karl’s comments.
And from there, and to the despair and incomprehension of his parents, he drops out of school working at what he himself knows is a dead end supermarket at Sainsburys, and gets more and more involved in online gaming – in particular Call of Duty – from there falling into sub-Reddit groups and then discovering that his Iranian heritage can be reconfigured as an Aryan identity into an activist anti-SJW right-wing group (with some implicit incel tendencies) and further into the dark web, as his online shooting prowess stats to give him real life ideas.
As an aside this is a novel very grounded in the real world – the supermarket is Sainsburys and the book gives a very detailed description of life as a Sainsbury’s supermarket worker. And Call of Duty missions and tournaments are described in huge detail – the author has said that the hardest things about the novel was “Making video gaming interesting on the page to somebody who’s not in the moment frenziedly racking up kill streaks” and to be honest I am not sure he really succeeded as I found myself largely skimming these sections. Twitter, Guardian BTL discussions, Reddit threads, You Tube comments, online gaming discussions are threaded throughout – a crucial and for me more successful part of the novel’s attempt to capture Social Media.
But there is a second viewpoint in the novel whose sections alternate with David’s (albeit they are much shorter). Hassan is one of the three involved in beating up David but his role is passive and the actions of his two childhood friends force him into a final break with them – as his life (still involved in the Muslim Youth Centre, interested in his mother’s moderate Islam website – Muslim voices) is at increasing odds with their drop out lifestyle of drugs and drinking. Determined to build some credentials for his personal statement for an application to Goldsmiths Hassan takes place in a befriending scheme run by the local Youth Centre, although he is real interest is in FIFA – which overtime gives him an opportunity in E-gaming from hie beloved West Ham (FIFA and West Han described with the same detail as Call of Duty and Sainsburys).
The Hassan sections were less convincing for me than the David ones – they did not seem to really advance the novel or at least not in a way that was clear to me reading it (or even when examining the author’s PhD thesis): I had wondered if the point was to have some exposure – even indirect - to Islamic extremism but this does not happen and instead Hassan and his mother’s relatively liberal view of Islam leaves the novel a little unbalanced I felt. Instead Hassan and his family seem to be there to make David’s beliefs and actions even more extreme and unfounded (he believes Hassan to be one of his attackers) than they already are, while at the same time there is an almost a reverse Chekov’s Gun element to the narrative (we wait for the gun to be introduced but with Hassan’s family acting as its pre-determined target).
I did though enjoy the early English A Level discussion of possible societal motivations for the actions of the Crucible’s Abigail Williams (which we immediately know is the author signalling to us that we need to consider the same for David) and David’s reasons for not reading English at University “There would be no reading novels anyway, he thinks. There would only be criticising novels for their heteronormativity, their whiteness, their Europeanness, their whateverness"
And overall this was a book that I very much enjoyed reading.
Even if perhaps did not quite match the ambition of the PhD thesis, the fidelity of the book (from Brixton Academy to FIFA to Sainsburys to Call of Duty) was a very welcome contrast to much of literary fiction which often seems set in an artificial world. I was surprised this novel was not on the Orwell Prize longlist and having read it that surprise (which was matched by the omission of Andrew Mc Millan’s very different but equally grounded in contemporary UK “Pity”) has only increased.
This book featured in the 2024 version of the influential and frequently literary-prize-prescient annual Observer Best Debut Novelist feature (last year included Tom Crewe. Michael Magee and Jacqueline Crooks – and previous years have featured Natasha Brown, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Douglas Stuart, Sally Rooney, Rebecca Watson, Yara Rodrigues Fowler, JR Thorp Bonnie Garmus, Gail Honeyman among many others).
Nicolas Padamsee is the founder and editor of the website Arts Against Extremism (https://www.artsagainstextremism.org/) which publishes “poetry, flash fiction, short stories and novel excerpts that tackle the subject of extremism – blurring black-and-white narratives and encouraging empathy for those ‘beyond the bounds of our personal lot’ – as well as interviews and essays that consider how art can help to stem the tide of radicalisation.” – and this novel fits that aim almost exactly.
It was written as the creative part of the author’s PhD Thesis at the UEA – and the more theory part is I think this document (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/1...) which is equally helpful in understanding the novel and its origins in an attempt to go back to the writing of Dostoevsky as a way to examine extremism and its interactions with social media/online experiences (which he argues was an element missing from most contemporary novels on extremism) – with Dostoevsky’s recognition of the impact of newspapers on radicalism as well as the use of polyphony (particularly in “Crime and Punishment”) proving a useful starting point.
At different points he says (on polyphony): “A contemporary novelist writing about extremism could in this vein bring together, say, a liberal white boomer, a woke white Gen Zer, a first-generation Iranian immigrant who fled their birthplace after the Islamic Revolution, and a second-generation immigrant desperate for a sense of identity.”, on physical setting “a contemporary novelist could set the narrative in London, with conservative Muslims, liberal Muslims, racists and far-right extremists all living in a deprived outer borough. On a character’s walk home from a Tube station, they could plausibly pass a mosque, a pub, a kebab shop and a newsagent and be required to take underpasses, where all sorts of kids could hang out. The structures of family and school could provide further dialogic opportunities. A character could attend a local state school in the outer borough, but also spend time in an up-and- coming, fashionable borough where one parent has moved with a new partner. When the action takes place online, a common meeting place could be a comments section on the Guardian. The comments section for a review of an album by an artist with politically controversial opinions would draw haters (who want to celebrate a negative review they feel is deserved) as well as loyal fans (who want to defend the artist and their right to hold politically controversial opinions, if not the opinions themselves). Any of the characters could conceivably find their way here.”, about the characters journey “After swinging from the left to the right, their protagonist could find themselves needing to find a new tribe online, a new target audience, and gradually move further and further right under the pressures of social media’s like economy, until they start retweeting members of Generation Identity. Everyone who used to follow the protagonist, while they were on the left, would stop following them. They could then end up in a totally monologic echo chamber where everyone is, indeed, singing the same song in the same way. But this song would be a nationalist one.”
All of which (and much more) could serve itself as a review of this novel.
And returning directly to it – the main character is David (half Iranian on his mother’s side), studying at Sixth Form but suffering something of an identity crisis. Something of a loner he was bullied at primary school (by white pupils) for his mixed heritage, and now at Sixth Form for his rather asexual dress, eyeliner and vegan lifestyle (which is motivated by his love of the singer Karl Williams). His parents have separated – his father (an electrician) living in Newbury Park – where the two of them survive on convenience food and repeat watching of episodes of “Only Fools and Horses”; his mother - who works for an left win NGO – living with a man who works for Amnesty and with Karl’s SJW (social justice warrior) step sister.
It is in his love for Williams that gives him his initial identity – the book opening with a great description of a concert he attends with his stepsister at Brixton Academy (and a – for me at least – Proustian description of a sticky beer soaked floor) where for once he feels part of a wider movement.
But when some remarks Karl makes about Islamists protest about sex education outside a school (basically questioning the compatibility of Islam with Western liberalism) cause his hero to be cancelled, David decides to double down on his following of Karl – and when he is beaten up by three Muslim students at his school it only encourages him to turn from the more left wing sites he previously followed to those which sympathise with Karl’s comments.
And from there, and to the despair and incomprehension of his parents, he drops out of school working at what he himself knows is a dead end supermarket at Sainsburys, and gets more and more involved in online gaming – in particular Call of Duty – from there falling into sub-Reddit groups and then discovering that his Iranian heritage can be reconfigured as an Aryan identity into an activist anti-SJW right-wing group (with some implicit incel tendencies) and further into the dark web, as his online shooting prowess stats to give him real life ideas.
As an aside this is a novel very grounded in the real world – the supermarket is Sainsburys and the book gives a very detailed description of life as a Sainsbury’s supermarket worker. And Call of Duty missions and tournaments are described in huge detail – the author has said that the hardest things about the novel was “Making video gaming interesting on the page to somebody who’s not in the moment frenziedly racking up kill streaks” and to be honest I am not sure he really succeeded as I found myself largely skimming these sections. Twitter, Guardian BTL discussions, Reddit threads, You Tube comments, online gaming discussions are threaded throughout – a crucial and for me more successful part of the novel’s attempt to capture Social Media.
But there is a second viewpoint in the novel whose sections alternate with David’s (albeit they are much shorter). Hassan is one of the three involved in beating up David but his role is passive and the actions of his two childhood friends force him into a final break with them – as his life (still involved in the Muslim Youth Centre, interested in his mother’s moderate Islam website – Muslim voices) is at increasing odds with their drop out lifestyle of drugs and drinking. Determined to build some credentials for his personal statement for an application to Goldsmiths Hassan takes place in a befriending scheme run by the local Youth Centre, although he is real interest is in FIFA – which overtime gives him an opportunity in E-gaming from hie beloved West Ham (FIFA and West Han described with the same detail as Call of Duty and Sainsburys).
The Hassan sections were less convincing for me than the David ones – they did not seem to really advance the novel or at least not in a way that was clear to me reading it (or even when examining the author’s PhD thesis): I had wondered if the point was to have some exposure – even indirect - to Islamic extremism but this does not happen and instead Hassan and his mother’s relatively liberal view of Islam leaves the novel a little unbalanced I felt. Instead Hassan and his family seem to be there to make David’s beliefs and actions even more extreme and unfounded (he believes Hassan to be one of his attackers) than they already are, while at the same time there is an almost a reverse Chekov’s Gun element to the narrative (we wait for the gun to be introduced but with Hassan’s family acting as its pre-determined target).
I did though enjoy the early English A Level discussion of possible societal motivations for the actions of the Crucible’s Abigail Williams (which we immediately know is the author signalling to us that we need to consider the same for David) and David’s reasons for not reading English at University “There would be no reading novels anyway, he thinks. There would only be criticising novels for their heteronormativity, their whiteness, their Europeanness, their whateverness"
And overall this was a book that I very much enjoyed reading.
Even if perhaps did not quite match the ambition of the PhD thesis, the fidelity of the book (from Brixton Academy to FIFA to Sainsburys to Call of Duty) was a very welcome contrast to much of literary fiction which often seems set in an artificial world. I was surprised this novel was not on the Orwell Prize longlist and having read it that surprise (which was matched by the omission of Andrew Mc Millan’s very different but equally grounded in contemporary UK “Pity”) has only increased.
November 24, 2024
I absolutely love picking up a book that may not be your usual cup of tea but that you end up really enjoying. England is Mine is told from the perspectives of two young men; David and Hassan. Two classmates who, after a horrifying encounter, are on two very different paths and one with a devastating end.
I really enjoyed the style of writing Padamsee uses. We as the reader get to see a situation from two different perspectives with England is Mine and it really shows how we can be united in our thinking, but so far apart also. The use of the different perspectives really portrayed how we make assumptions and think badly of someone and at the same time they are choosing to walk away from friendships / situations because of what they have seen you go through.
I enjoyed the snippets of online chat as it made the story more believable and you could easily imagine the characters that David was talking to and how he became isolated and pulled into this darker world. We as the reader bear witness to David’s declining trajectory and its frighteningly worrying how real his story felt. England is Mine is a super tense read and you can feel that something bad is going to happen from the first few pages.
The only reason I haven’t given this five stars is because I did predict the ending from the start of the book and some of the references / facts detailed in the book went over my head. However, it is an intense read and Padamsee covers so many topics. I really enjoyed the irony at the end of the book and it perfectly showed how social media can easily twist the truth!!
I really enjoyed the style of writing Padamsee uses. We as the reader get to see a situation from two different perspectives with England is Mine and it really shows how we can be united in our thinking, but so far apart also. The use of the different perspectives really portrayed how we make assumptions and think badly of someone and at the same time they are choosing to walk away from friendships / situations because of what they have seen you go through.
I enjoyed the snippets of online chat as it made the story more believable and you could easily imagine the characters that David was talking to and how he became isolated and pulled into this darker world. We as the reader bear witness to David’s declining trajectory and its frighteningly worrying how real his story felt. England is Mine is a super tense read and you can feel that something bad is going to happen from the first few pages.
The only reason I haven’t given this five stars is because I did predict the ending from the start of the book and some of the references / facts detailed in the book went over my head. However, it is an intense read and Padamsee covers so many topics. I really enjoyed the irony at the end of the book and it perfectly showed how social media can easily twist the truth!!
February 26, 2025
Was interested in this book as thought it might build on stuff from uni around the far right and radicalisation. It was an interesting angle on it, focusing on how online spaces can push people deeper and deeper - the author did have the rare knack of actually being able to emulate how people speak online which is tricky.
I didn’t feel as if David’s actual radicalisation was given much depth beyond these conversations, though, and a few cursory google searches about his heritage. Hassan’s story was a nice counterplot against which to set David’s radicalisation, as it snowballed towards a predictable, horrid end.
Overall, didn’t feel like this quite hit the mark for me - barring some nice chapters exploring David’s relationship with his mum and her history, and Hassan and his loneliness telephone calling, found myself skimming some of the online chat sections as they got repetitive toward the middle. I struggled with the staccato style of writing quite a lot at the beginning as it felt simplistic, but as the book continued, Padamsee’s style expanded with it, at least for Hassan; while David remained in that short, linear way of thinking.
I didn’t feel as if David’s actual radicalisation was given much depth beyond these conversations, though, and a few cursory google searches about his heritage. Hassan’s story was a nice counterplot against which to set David’s radicalisation, as it snowballed towards a predictable, horrid end.
Overall, didn’t feel like this quite hit the mark for me - barring some nice chapters exploring David’s relationship with his mum and her history, and Hassan and his loneliness telephone calling, found myself skimming some of the online chat sections as they got repetitive toward the middle. I struggled with the staccato style of writing quite a lot at the beginning as it felt simplistic, but as the book continued, Padamsee’s style expanded with it, at least for Hassan; while David remained in that short, linear way of thinking.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 20, 2025
4.5⭐️
the last book i read had some pretty complex language so it was nice to jump into something with a simplier prose. that is not to say this book is by any means trivial in its subject matter or delivery.
i absolutely love it when authors are either clearly tapped into their cultural references, or very well researched and this book is such a great testament to that. as a child of the internet a lot of the discourse and references were recognisable to me, but even as someone that has attempted to educate myself with the many insidious tactics of the far right, the way they were able to organise their online raids was terrifying to me! i will definitely be a lot more perceptive online when coming across far right accounts now.
the 3rd act of this book was so anxiety provoking my god!
the only tinyyyyy critique i have is i would have liked to seen a short epilogue, just to wrap up some bits from hassan's pov, david's family, reactions from the community at large/online but that's just me!
a stunning debut i loved it.
the last book i read had some pretty complex language so it was nice to jump into something with a simplier prose. that is not to say this book is by any means trivial in its subject matter or delivery.
i absolutely love it when authors are either clearly tapped into their cultural references, or very well researched and this book is such a great testament to that. as a child of the internet a lot of the discourse and references were recognisable to me, but even as someone that has attempted to educate myself with the many insidious tactics of the far right, the way they were able to organise their online raids was terrifying to me! i will definitely be a lot more perceptive online when coming across far right accounts now.
the 3rd act of this book was so anxiety provoking my god!
the only tinyyyyy critique i have is i would have liked to seen a short epilogue, just to wrap up some bits from hassan's pov, david's family, reactions from the community at large/online but that's just me!
a stunning debut i loved it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 5, 2025
This is told from the POV of David, a loner with no friends who gets sucked into an online extremist group, and Hassan a young Muslim who is alienated from his peers. The two teenagers struggle to find their identity in a world where hate is found in all corners of the internet.
The writing style took me a little while to get used too, it is very jarring and direct with it's short sentences, but as the story progressed it was clear this style was needed and the approach portrayed the inner monologue of the characters. The story was didactic in its style, and this along with the mixed media of tweets and messages between friends gave the story a very realistic, and troubling, grounding. The author stripped away the descriptive elements and just told the story in its true form from the character's inner monologues. The build up the ending had me hooked, the ending was a very sudden ending and very ironic in how the author decided to end it.
The writing style took me a little while to get used too, it is very jarring and direct with it's short sentences, but as the story progressed it was clear this style was needed and the approach portrayed the inner monologue of the characters. The story was didactic in its style, and this along with the mixed media of tweets and messages between friends gave the story a very realistic, and troubling, grounding. The author stripped away the descriptive elements and just told the story in its true form from the character's inner monologues. The build up the ending had me hooked, the ending was a very sudden ending and very ironic in how the author decided to end it.
November 6, 2024
A heartbreaking and disturbing exploration of loneliness and isolation, and the places it can take you. Enjoyed is the wrong word, but I was totally hooked by the story. Padamsee writes incredibly well these flawed characters with whom it is easy to empathise with, in spite of their unforgivable acts. A frighteningly believable story about the ways in which hateful behaviour, language and beliefs have the potential to be encouraged and heightened in those whom society fails to care for, and of the wider culture of misogyny, racism, fear and intolerance which feeds the fire. Really quite difficult to get through at times, only because the story feels so familiar and realistic. I'd have liked Hassan to play a bigger role towards the end; it felt like his storyline petered out a bit, but this is still a really fantastic novel. Definitely recommend. 9/10
April 20, 2025
*proof copy*
this was an interesting concept from a new author but its execution fell a little flat for me. i had to skip over the multiple paragraphs of CoD or fifa gameplay descriptions and i felt that this author overused repetition, like almost in every chapter, which started to feel a bit samey after a while. the characters were generally well written but the dual perspective of david and hassan was a little clunky at times, and i was expecting there to be more of a relationship or at least significant interaction between them other than hassan witnessing what happened to david. the story really highlights how scarily easy it can be for young people to fall into far-right rabbit holes and be exposed to radicalisation through social media platforms
this was an interesting concept from a new author but its execution fell a little flat for me. i had to skip over the multiple paragraphs of CoD or fifa gameplay descriptions and i felt that this author overused repetition, like almost in every chapter, which started to feel a bit samey after a while. the characters were generally well written but the dual perspective of david and hassan was a little clunky at times, and i was expecting there to be more of a relationship or at least significant interaction between them other than hassan witnessing what happened to david. the story really highlights how scarily easy it can be for young people to fall into far-right rabbit holes and be exposed to radicalisation through social media platforms
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