Three lives are brought together by chance in 90s London, in this spellbinding story of friendship and loneliness, healing and redemption

*Guardian book to read 2026*

'Hypnotically beautiful' Louise Kennedy
'Poetic, truthful and powerful' Diana Evans
'A lyrical hymn to London’s overlooked places of sanctuary' Hannah Lowe

Jaycee finally has a room of her own in Sky City, a housing estate in north London carved out of the glow-in-the-dark sky. But her troubled childhood continues to haunt her. When an old classmate, Sol, reappears, he seems to offer her a lifeline. Sol was her first love, and the only person who looked out for Jaycee when they were kids. Can she trust him now?

Her best friend is Ella-G, who left for the glamorous music scene in New York. When Jaycee finds a rare record that seems to lead to Ella-G’s father, the two women go searching for answers in Atlantic City. But what Jaycee encounters there forces her to confront the traumas of her own past. Back in London, can Jaycee, Sol and Ella-G find justice and healing, even as their worlds threaten to crash together and splinter apart?

'Jacqueline Crooks is the rare groove of literature' Afua Hirsch

'An exhilarating, compelling story that goes deep into the self, and what it is to feel human' Priscilla Morris