Overview

FROM GRANTA BEST OF YOUNG BRITISH NOVELIST AND WINNER OF THE DESMOND ELLIOT PRIZE 'Glaringly fresh and true' COURTTIA NEWLAND 'Full of originality and raw, pure, gutsy talent' CHRISTIE WATSON 'Masterful' TROY ONYANGO Loneliness means you don't have to disappoint anyone until you develop the habit of talking to yourself At nineteen, Marcus is young and in love . . . again. When his latest crush, Adwoa, starts showing him true affection, Marcus is ready to reconsider his lifestyle - the drugs, the casual encounters. At least for a little while. Now, before he knows it, Marcus is twenty-five. And history risks repeating itself. Told through two parallel narratives - one past, one present - Borderline Fiction is a highly original and deeply affecting contemporary tale written with an intensity of emotion and vulnerability. The novel is a close-up, sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes funny examination of what it means to be a young black man navigating today's world. Tortured, beautiful, anxious and poetic, Borderline Fiction is a memorable glimpse into the inner world of a young man searching for an authentic way to love and be loved.

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9781838855710

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Reviews

The evolution of modern British literature as it lives and breathes belongs to Derek Owusu . . . With this novel, Owusu doubles down on everything that makes his fiction so exemplary. There are passages that took my breath away. The world, the dialect, the ideas, are all glaringly fresh and true -- COURTTIA NEWLAND Derek Owusu is, with some ease, one of Britain's most exciting and intriguing literary talents. Unpredictable, emotionally profound and ever advanced with his language, Derek brings aggressively fresh ideas to our pages and screens. The man is a bottomless pool of creative brilliance and emotional intelligence -- NELS ABBEY This is the immersive ride through the black, male and working class London I know albeit with a twist. At times I didn't know what was real and what was imagined, yet although the narrator may be unreliable, the writing you can bet your house on. Each sentence sings, this is the novel I've been waiting years to read -- SYMEON BROWN Praise for Derek Owusu: Masterful . . . [Losing the Plot] is a reflection of a son attempting to embrace the entirety of his mother - all her vulnerability, spikiness and unknowability -- MICHAEL DONKOR * * i * * Owusu is one of the most original writers today -- STEFAN TOBLER A love letter - sometimes dense, often moving - written by a son to his mother * * Guardian * * Losing the Plot is a timeless piece, crafted and written with immense emotion and exquisite detail * * Bad Form * * A highly enigmatic, affectionate and robustly written portrayal of a mother-son relationship . . . very relatable -- DIANA EVANS

The evolution of modern British literature as it lives and breathes belongs to Derek Owusu . . . With this novel, Owusu doubles down on everything that makes his fiction so exemplary. There are passages that took my breath away. The world, the dialect, the ideas, are all glaringly fresh and true -- COURTTIA NEWLAND What makes Borderline Fiction so impactful and original is its fearlessness and reality. There is no simplifying or watering down of pain, heartbreak, or the consequences of some of our greatest mistakes. Instead, Derek Owusu's latest novel asks us to sit with these experiences and emotions, to observe and immerse ourselves in them as our protagonists do, so that we're not left with a meditation on love or family, or history and identity, but a real empathy for what it means to be vulnerable that is profound and powerful, in the hands of a writer whose every word holds purpose -- ORE AGBAJE-WILLIAMS Derek Owusu is, with some ease, one of Britain's most exciting and intriguing literary talents. Unpredictable, emotionally profound and ever advanced with his language, Derek brings aggressively fresh ideas to our pages and screens. The man is a bottomless pool of creative brilliance and emotional intelligence -- NELS ABBEY This is the immersive ride through the black, male and working class London I know albeit with a twist. At times I didn't know what was real and what was imagined, yet although the narrator may be unreliable, the writing you can bet your house on. Each sentence sings, this is the novel I've been waiting years to read -- SYMEON BROWN Praise for Derek Owusu: Masterful . . . [Losing the Plot] is a reflection of a son attempting to embrace the entirety of his mother - all her vulnerability, spikiness and unknowability -- MICHAEL DONKOR * * i * * Owusu is one of the most original writers today -- STEFAN TOBLER A love letter - sometimes dense, often moving - written by a son to his mother * * Guardian * * Losing the Plot is a timeless piece, crafted and written with immense emotion and exquisite detail * * Bad Form * * A highly enigmatic, affectionate and robustly written portrayal of a mother-son relationship . . . very relatable -- DIANA EVANS

Author Information

Derek Owusu is an award-winning writer and poet from North London. He has written for the BBC, ITV, Granta, Esquire, GQ and Tate Britain. In 2019, Owusu collated, edited and contributed to SAFE: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space, an anthology exploring the experiences of Black men in Britain. His first novel, That Reminds Me, won the Desmond Elliott Prize for best debut novel published in the UK and Ireland. His novel Losing the Plot was longlisted for the Jhalak Prize and the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2023. The same year, he was selected as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists.

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