An Olive Grove in Ends

McKenzie’s stunning debut is set in London’s British Jamaican and Somali neighborhood known as Ends, where families contend with poverty, drug use, and religious tensions while searching for a way out of their fraught circumstances. Sayon yearns for nothing more than a charming house set apart from the chaos of Ends, where he can live with his longtime girlfriend and pastor’s daughter, Shona, a paragon of beauty and goodness. Narrating his brother’s work, Louis McKenzie describes how Sayon’s plans unravel before his eyes. Before long, Sayon has served prison time for dealing drugs and has been party to a horrific murder—his dreams of a house on a hill seem impossibly far away. With a voice thrumming with rhythm and emotion, McKenzie channels the hustle of the streets, the intricacies of accents, tones, and voices, and the aching dread that fuels Sayon’s life. His gritty narration is entirely authentic, resulting in an unparalleled listening experience.