The Living Days

• About the book

'She wanted to immerse herself utterly in the presence of this child's strong, vibrant body. She drank in his vigor, inhaled the fiery energy he exuded. No matter why he was there. He had granted her reprieve.' A chance encounter on Portobello Road incites an unsettling, magnetic attraction between Mary, an elderly spinster, and Cub, a boy from Brixton, driving her crumbling world into heightened delusion. The two struggle to keep their footing as white supremacy, desperation and class conflict collide on the streets of the increasingly polarised metropolis. Award-winning Mauritian author and poet Ananda Devi paints an unforgettable portrait of London at its most bewitching, and most dangerous. At once realistic and fantastical, The Living Days encapsulates Devi's daring, unflinching talent, and offers a masterful dissection of the queasy nature of desire muddled with power.