Sky City

£18.99

London in the 90s. After years in a hostel for young homeless women, Jaycee finally has a room of her own high up in Sky City, a housing estate in north London carved out of the glow-in-the-dark sky. But the past is not so easily forgotten and her 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 from the hostel is Ella-G, who has left London for the glamorous world of the New York music scene. Both Jaycee and Ella-G are daughters in search of fathers. 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. What Jaycee encounters there brings her to the edges of her identity. Back in London, she finally begins to confront the traumas of her own past.

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Scheduled for publication on 6th August, 2026
The book will be available on or after this date. If you would like to preorder a copy, we will notify you when it is ready to collect.

SKU: 9781787336063 Category: Tag: Publisher/imprint : Jonathan Cape
Page count : 384
Published on 6th August, 2026

Description

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*

‘Visceral, shocking, moving – Jacqueline Crooks proves yet again that she is an absolutely fantastic writer’ Bernardine Evaristo

‘Hypnotically beautiful’ Louise Kennedy

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?

‘Poetic, truthful and powerful’ Diana Evans

‘A lyrical hymn to London’s overlooked places of sanctuary’ Hannah Lowe

‘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

Additional information

Weight 0.482 kg
Dimensions 22.5 × 14.6 × 2.8 cm
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