Who They Was

(Paperback)

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Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2020

A Spectator Book of the Year

A literary rendering of theTop Boy generation I cannot conjure another work which captures this culture in such depth or with such brutal honesty as only lived experience can tell Graeme Armstrong, author of The Young Team
An astonishingly powerful book Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of The Last Act of Love

This life is like being in an ocean. Some people keep swimming towards the bottom. Some people touch the bottom with one foot, or even both, and then push themselves off it to get back up to the top, where you can breathe. Others get to the bottom and decide they want to stay there. I dont want to get to the bottom because Im already drowning.

This is a story of a London you wont find in any guidebooks.

This is a story about what its like to exist in the moment, about boys too eager to become men, growing up in the hidden war zones of big cities and the girls trying to make it their own way.

This is a story of reputations made and lost, of violence and vengeance and never counting the cost.

This is a story of concrete towers and blank eyed windows, of endless nights in police stations and prison cells, of brotherhood and betrayal.

This is about the boredom, the rush, the despair, the fear and the hope.

This is about whats left behind.

Reviews

An astonishingly powerful book. Krauze is an immense new talent Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of The Last Act of Love

Magnificent in its relentless intensity and searing honesty, this is a new voice arriving fully formed and raring to go Booker Prize judges 2020

It is exceptional Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie

A wild ride from the very first page. An astonishing telling of a young man's search for belonging, caught between a life of crime with his London gang and hopes for his academic future Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain

Arrives on the literary scene like the sound of gunfire over a south Kilburn housing estate With its distinctive argot and moments of ultraviolence,Who They Wasis akin toAClockwork Orange except that instead of a well-heeled authors fantastical brainchild, it is a hyperrealistic tale from a writer who has lived the lifestyle it describes Guardian

By turns visceral, funny, moving and appalling a powerful evocation of gang life on this estate in south Kilburn The Times

Who They Wascouldand shouldprove a historical turning point for British literature and future,as yet unheard, voices Complex

There is a lot of soul-searching, but it is never allowed to interrupt the action for long; Gabriel is just as likely to be witnessing somebody elses navel being sliced open as gazing at his own he writes honestly and infesctiously about the buzz that comes with committing violent crime he has plenty of talent to see him through Telegraph

I cannot conjure another work which captures this culture in such depth or with such brutal honesty as only lived experience can tell. This is a literary rendering of theTop Boy generation Krauze's voice is stuck in my head and it is an authentic voice of the streets Graeme Armstrong, author of The Young Team

Author Bio

Gabriel Krauze grew up in London in a Polish family and was drawn to a life of crime and gangs from an early age. Now in his thirties he has left that world behind and is recapturing his life through writing. He has published short stories in Vice. Who They Was is his first novel.