The Harrow

by Noah Eaton

Shortlisted for The Orwell Prize for Fiction 2025, a darkly comic novel of subterfuge, whisky glasses, and the drive of an underdog to find the truth, no matter the consequences...

Welcome to the The Harrow, last survivor of London's once-notorious muckraking magazines. John Salmon, its battle-hardened editor, and his misfit journalists have fought for years to keep it alive, but extinction looms.

Neither the arrival of trainee Danny Roth nor a local gangland killing looks set to change that. But as John reluctantly allows Danny to investigate the murder, they soon find themselves entangled in a story that could save The Harrow - but might cost them their lives...

A brilliantly plotted crime mystery full of larger-than-life characters from the seamy underbelly of modern London.

389 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 1, 2025

Reviews

[Gareth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quirky, engaging and enjoyable debut novel, centred around a local newspaper called ‘The Harrow’. Its character-centric approach works really well, with their individual traits (self righteousness, religious zeal, bitterness, youthful ambition and naivety) combining to make for some interesting dynamics. This approach, alongside an investigation in to the murder of a gang member and potential council corruption, makes for a very captivating read. It also has interesting undertones throughout, making the reader ask questions about press morality, politics vs self ambition or even family expectation vs individual choice. Highly recommend and look forward to the (hopefully inevitable) sequel.

[Andy Weston · Rating 3 out of 5]

What at first seems like a standard police procedural, albeit with an investigative journalist, turns out to have more to it, with some decent twists and a set of well drawn characters that enable Eaton to work in some deeper themes.

The book’s title and the author’s surname may give a clue that the apparent simplicity of the plot would be used as a device to examine a deeper purpose.

Chiefly, it’s the politics of local councils, and the sad and irretrievable loss of local journalism that are addressed, though any digression serves only to enhance the enjoyment of what otherwise would be pretty mundane.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

WE ARE THE HARROW. WE ARE THE EYES, HE EARS AND THE VOICE OF THE UNDER-PRESENTED, THE SILENT AND THE OPPRESSED. WE WALK THE HALLS OF POWER AND FEARLESSLY SHINE A LIGHT ON HYPOC-RISY, INJUSTICE, CRIMINALITY, NEGLIGENCE AND INCOMPETENCE, WHATEVER SHAPE IT MAY TAKE, WHEREVER IT MAY LURK.
FOR DEMOCRACY TO WORK, THE WEAK AND THE VULNERABLE MUST KNOW THAT THE STRONG AND POWERFUL ARE SCRUTINIZED AND HELD TO ACCOUNT. ONLY A FREE, FEARLESS AND HONEST PRESS, TRULY IMMUNE TO THE PRESSURES OF SPECIAL INTERESTS, CAN GUARANTEE THAT THIS WILL HAPPEN. THIS IS THE HARROW. WE ARE THE GUARDIAN OF YOUR DEMOCRACY.

 
2025 Orwell Prize Finalist.
 
The Orwell Prize in its short history has been perhaps the strongest of all the UK (I would argue English language) literary prizes in terms of strength of winner (as well as Finalist list – the prize eschews the usual longlist/shortlist stages) – with the judges I would say interpreting the prizes aim / Orwell’s mantra “to make political writing into art” in a wide sense, with emphasis as much on literary quality as on the political aspect.

This year though my impressions are that the judges have deliberately taken a wider view of literary merit and thought more about the political aspects (and Orwell’s own writing) – no more so than in this book, one which I think brings in one of the other (and in fact the original) Orwell Prize – the Prize for Journalism which rewards “sustained reportage” – a book which is basically a crime novel, one in style similar I would say to stylistically is of the a UK police procedural sub-grnre of crime novel (albeit less cliché ridden than much of that genre) but which instead is about local journalism (investigative) reporting. 
 
As an aside Megan Nolan’s “Ordinary Human Failings” featuring a journalist was shortlisted last year – but in that case with a national tabloid journalist – with his employer seen as contributing to society breakdown.  Here though the portrayal of local journalism – for all its grubbiness – is portrayed both by the novel and the judges as a broad social good.
 
The Judges’ citation sums this up well “Don’t be fooled by The Harrow’s seeming simplicity or by its uncluttered directness. It is a thriller and whodunit, yes. But it is also a novel rousingly elevated beyond its genre by a greater purpose, its analysis of council politics and the inevitable – but sad and irretrievable – loss of local journalism”
 
“The Harrow” – named after the “to rake out the land and drag out weeds, to distress the powerful” (as in “Christ harrowing hell”) is based in the area around Tottenham and comes out – and has done for over 20 years - as a rather low print quality weekly magazine (although still – I guess like the
Economist – sticking to the description of a newspaper) and is sold mainly in local newsagents (albeit dwindling in sales alongside much print media and with no plans to go digital). 
 
Its focus is on reporting local crime with an emphasis on the villains rather than the victims (we all live within 200 yards of a felon is one of the owner/proprietor/editor John Salmon’s mantras) – much of it sourced from daily attendance at the two local courts of Wood Green and Highbury (the particular beat of one of the two other reporters Jacob Culver), local council corruption (one of his three employees – with whom Salmon has a casual relationship – Amanda Lees - is obsessed with the latter and particular with the Borough Council’s head Stella Ellinas who having delivered on a pledge to reduce gang crime is on course for a safe Parliament seat), police incompetence, and any other local scandals or just petty complaints – or to put in the words of one of the main characters – Danny Roth - who joins it “The mutant love child of The Sun and True Crime magazine, combining the worse of both, played out over ten square squalid miles of London”.
 
Danny is the son (and sibling) of a family of successful lawyers (with the only other exception an even more successful banker), but after a soul-destroying career as a commodity trader has taken an Investigative Reporting MA and is now looking for a job – and, with some reluctance, takes a minimum wage job with Salmon (one Salmon’s daughter and right hand woman Lizzie is sure he cannot afford even at those salaries given the downward trajectory of sales).
 
Salmon is on the hunt for a big story which might change the newspapers fortunes and three such not-unrelated possibilities appear (with a combination of Salmon’s stubbornly old fashioned methods and Danny’s ideas – for example at one point going undercover): apparent proof sourced by Amanda of a long running corruption allegation against Ellinas; the gangland killing of a young gang member (seemingly by his own gang) – the son of two fellow evangelical church members of Val McDonagh, the magazine administrator who joined the magazine when Salmon exposed a corrupt ex-leader of the church – one which it is clear the police have little interest in investigating but which Val gets Danny interested in; a growing story that building contractors seem to be employing gang members as construction sites in the borough.
 
And against all of this we have Danny learning his trade as a journalist while struggling with the condescension of his family and the intransigence of his cynical new employer; Salmon raging to his staff about the importance of what they are doing and what he has done for some 24 years and why it is far more both appealing to readers and effective for democracy than the work of the nationals while privately having increased doubts both about some of his past methods and his beloved newspaper’s future (but being unwilling to move away from principles and prejudices which have sustained him for two decades); some insights into the compromises of local council politics; and an interesting Danny/Lizzie dynamic.
 
Overall, I found this an enjoyable read – nicely paced, distinctive enough to not feel like an overdone genre and a very interesting and I think appropriate choice for an Orwell Finalist.

[Lorna Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual 3.5

An engaging and easy read about a young journalist trying to make a name for himself at a small local paper/magazine. Mixed in is a whodunnit, a dodgy politician, a son finding his place in a family of middle class high achievers, some thoughts about gangs and a sort of love interest for the main character. Not forgetting the narrative about the move from print to digital and what that means to the older generation of journalists.

Some memorable characters in the newspaper office and the daughter is stronger for being used sparingly. The politician (again appears sporadically) felt authentic and you could feel the power of her grief fueling her actions once it was explained. I loved her internal "sorry Theo" towards the end when she forced herself to look forward.

Part of the book's charm is that it feels relevant and believable in the current times we are living in. It makes you think about the greys around gangs and what is ethical as a tactic to getting gang violence down.

He writes well and the book flows easily whilst still making points that make you think. Some of the solution towards the end felt a little contrived (handy CCTV off-site storage) but no more so than your normal thriller. It felt like he left it open ended enough for a sequel and I think there is enough character development left to make that work. The characters (nearly all of them) develop considerably throughout the book but there is room for more.

[Haxxunne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Journalist-led cosy-ish mystery
—
Newly minted journalist Danny Roth ends up darkening the door of John Salmon, embittered veteran of local news and editor of his own magazi—that is, newspaper, The Harrow, which is not about Harrow the area but the act of harrowing, of raking the ground to see what lies beneath. Danny’s in over his head but so is Salmon, as Danny’s impromptu investigation into a local murder collides with nefarious goings-on at the council, decades-long stories that Salmon broke in his inimitable and bull-in-a-china-shop style, and the unceasing encroachment of online news on the real world.

With a little police procedural, class snobbery and plenty of red herrings and wrong turns, this is an entertaining debut that takes no risks and raises little challenge to the reader. The action, the threats, the mysteries are at a pretty constant level, so the novel remains cosy-ish even when more chilling set pieces play out. It’s worth checking out and there’s likely to be a sequel, and probably some sort of tv adaptation in its future.

[A · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up due to various good reviews and was unfortunately quite disappointed.
I found the plot pedestrian and uninteresting, as well as just plain unbelievable at points.
I was not expecting to be as bored as I was by it.
I would not really recommend this book.