Whilst I was able to relate to many of the of the experiences captured in the book, for me this book and your story reeked of Black joy and optimism and for this I as grateful.

I listened to the audio version and the cadence of Michelle’s voice, especially when her father died, really moved me. Especially not when your love interests are adopted brothers from different cultures, each of whom you relate to on a different level, each of whom seems to be lying to you about different things, neither of whom you can really trust.Lots of other themes are explored, violence, murder, trauma etc but all really important and all necessary to be written about even if it's through a fictitious story.

We were thrilled to welcome Sunday Times bestselling author, journalist and TV presenter Candice Brathwaite to the Women’s Prize podcast to find out about the five books that have shaped her, from Oprah Winfrey to Harper Lee.As much as Cynthia likes Thomas though, she can't help noticing Isaac, the only other black student in her year. The writing style is perfect for a YA read but also perfect for adults that love reading YA like me.

It also does a great job of talking about knife crime and the effects this has not only personally but culturally too but it is down subtley and really well. A book that might interest you on this theme is Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta, a semi-autobiographical novel recently republished by her son. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. I wanted to learn about issues black and asian women face within the UK and in structural systems like the NHS, Criminal Prosecution Service and so on.Cuts Both Ways was a really powerful read and its ending – whilst not ambiguous – certainly allows for more of the story to be told and I really home that Candice Braithwaite turns it into a series. I thought it was so intriguing to see the mindset of Black men who refused to shave off Candice’s hair back in the day. This was a sharp and funny fascinating look at what it is to be a black teenager in Britain today and looked at issues such as race, identity and who someone is in themselves, their school, their surroundings and their family, ethnicity and class. I’ve seen the stats about the higher mortality rates among Black mothers and infants before but this really brings it home; like Kendi’s wife in “ How to Raise an Anti-Racist“, Braithwaite has serious complications around the birth of her first child which are negated and downplayed until it’s almost too late.