Stars are Stars by Kevin Sampson
Fifteen-year-old Danny has just one dream: to be an artist. Living in Toxteth, with his mother and five sisters, Danny meets clever, politically aware Nicole and falls in love. But when Thatcher's government withdraws the Liverpool Art School's funding, Danny slides into apathy, robbing and drug dependency. Nicole and Danny's love affair, played out to a soundtrack of Bowie and Joy Division, is grand, romantic and doomed. Then Danny finds himself sucked into the longest, most exhilarating and frightening day of his life. Set on fire by rioters, Toxteth is ablaze. Danny, transfixed, starts to paint versions of the same picture, over and over again... Can Nicole bring him back from the edge?
"Buzzing with post-punk energy and righteous indignationThe result is a novel that has you feeling sad and angry about Thatcher's Britain all over again, and with the simplistic intensity of adolescence" * Independent on Sunday *
"It's when Sampson is detailing the violence of the Toxteth riots that his descriptive powers are really exercised ... Stars are Stars has a solid emotional core - it's about the limits of idealism, and the transformative potential of young love" -- Emma Love * Time Out *
"More than a love story, this is a love letter to the post-punk scene in Liverpool... Sampson convincingly captures that mindset, peculiar to youth and perhaps to that time, when politics, music and desire could mix and combust to such powerful effect" * Independent *
"Sampson is a fine storyteller... Nasty stuff, brilliantly told" * Guardian *
"It's when Sampson is detailing the violence of the Toxteth riots that his descriptive powers are really exercised ... Stars are Stars has a solid emotional core - it's about the limits of idealism, and the transformative potential of young love" -- Emma Love * Time Out *
"More than a love story, this is a love letter to the post-punk scene in Liverpool... Sampson convincingly captures that mindset, peculiar to youth and perhaps to that time, when politics, music and desire could mix and combust to such powerful effect" * Independent *
"Sampson is a fine storyteller... Nasty stuff, brilliantly told" * Guardian *
Kevin Sampson is the author of eight novels, as well as Extra Time, his account of a season in the life of a Liverpool FC fanatic, and the moving narrative of the Hillsborough tragedy, Hillsborough Voices. He has also contributed to football anthologies, including Here We Go Gathering Cups in May and Redmen, which he also edited. Kevin is a regular contributor to the Guardian, Observer and the award-winning LFC podcast, The Anfield Wrap. He lives on Merseyside where he is a long-term supporter of CALM, a charity specialising in the mental health needs of young males. You can find him at @ksampsonwriter on Twitter.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780099470250 |
| ISBN 10 | 009947025X |
| Title | Stars are Stars |
| Author | Kevin Sampson |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 2007-06-07 |
| Number of pages | 256 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |