Sixteen-year-old Josh’s father was killed in the suicide bombing of a train, while he was going to work. This challenging novel chronicles the grief of Josh and his mother and also the attempt to radicalise Josh made by a group of white supremacists.
The judges for The Branford Boase Award commented: ‘An unflinching exploration of an important subject’; ‘I felt really immersed in it’; ‘a powerful read’; ‘there’s a sense of raw newness’.
Shortlisted for the 2022 Branford Boase AwardLonglisted for the 2022 Yoto Carnegie medalFeatured on the Sunday Times 2021 Books of the year listA white supremacist group and its violent leader target fifteen-year-old Josh, who is struggling to cope with his father's recent death at the hands of terrorists. Will he find the strength to resist? Will unlikely accomplice Dana help him plant something good in the space grief has left inside him?
Luke Palmer is a poet, author and secondary school teacher, and a graduate of the Bath Spa Creative Writing course. He lives in Wiltshire with his young family. Grow is his first novel.
