Dead Ends: An electrifying novel in verse by award-winning author and poet

by Ashley Hickson-Lovence

An electrifying new YA verse-novel by award-winning and Carnegie nominated author and poet, Ashley Hickson-Lovence. Perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds, Dean Atta and Manjeet Mann.

There are stories within these storeys . . .

Something is going down at Singer Court.

Something big.

It’s Saturday morning and fourteen-year-old Toby “Mastermind” McKenzie and his younger brother Dré are forced to evacuate their high-rise tower block by armed officers.

Set over the course of a single day, this is the nail-bitingly thrilling and poetic tale of a bright young Black boy using the power of courage, friendship and unity to save his community.

Ashley Hickson-Lovence's debut verse-novel, Wild East, won the YA Diverse Book Award 2025, the Two Cities Book Award 2024, the Mal Peet Children’s Award 2024 and the East Anglian Book of the Year 2024, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal for Writing 2025 and shortlisted and longlisted for multiple more prizes.

Praise for Wild East:

‘A powerful story of resilience, friendship, discovery and growth’ Jeffrey Boakye, author of Kofi and the Rap Battle Summer

‘I loved Ronny's kindness, vulnerability, empathy, tenacity and open-heartedness’ Patrice Lawrence, author of Orangeboy

‘Raw, moving, and so accessible. A powerful spoken-word style verse novel’ Rashmi Sirdeshpande, author of How To Be Extraordinary

‘Welcomes all types of readers . . . Hickson-Lovence has crafted a superb piece’ DD Armstrong, author of Ugly Dogs Don't Cry

‘A book meant to be heard . . . It's the fresh, “spoken word” style that makes Ronny's story’ The Times

‘Heartfelt and up-to-the-minute . . . A reminder that even short lines can take you a long way’ The Sunday Times

‘This empowering verse novel announces the arrival of an exciting new talent in YA fiction’ Waterstones.com

Kindle Edition

Expected publication October 1, 2026

About the author

Ashley Hickson-Lovence is the author of the novels The 392, Your Show and Wild East — overall winner of the East Anglian Book Awards 2024 and the YA winner of the Diverse Book Awards 2025. His poetry collection Why I Am Not a Bus Driver released with Bad Betty Press in 2025 includes the poem “Munster Road,” which was highly commended for Best Single Poem by the Forward Prize and was featured in the Forward Prize Book of Poetry 2026. Ashley has a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of East Anglia, and his nominations include the Black Excellence Award for Outstanding Contribution to Literature 2023. His new novel About To Fall Apart will be published by Faber in April 2026, and his next YA verse novel Dead Ends will be released in August 2026.