'Brilliant . . . passionate . . . a novel about what it's like to live now'
Bidisha

It's June 2011. Best friends Stick and Mac can't wait to turn eighteen and escape their north Manchester estate. They've spent months planning a road trip to Spain, but the night before they're due to leave Mac ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time and now Stick must face an uncertain future alone. Resisting his family's well-meaning attempts to help, he focuses on seeking justice for his friend and then meets a girl he can't stop thinking about. When riots break out across the country, Stick is still burning with rage and grief and searching for a way to express them . . .


'Delicate and honest . . . a human story about grief and how that can manifest itself in unflinching anger, no matter our age'
Nikesh Shukla, Independent

'To read Before the Fire is to walk several miles in other people's shoes . . . a tender, powerful, affecting novel'
Emylia Hall, author of The Book of Summers