The love story of two runaway teenagers, Gemma and Tar, and their struggles with heroin addiction.



Melvin Burgess' most ambitious and complex novel is a multi-faceted and vivid depiction of a group of young people in the grip of addiction. It is told in many different voices, from the addicts themselves to the friends watching from the outside who try to prevent tragedy.



Winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.