Wholesale Lonely Note, A

'Coming out of the music store, squinting at these students in the sunlight, Tariq felt as if they lived a life of freedom he would never know.' Peace and violence, faith and mistrust, thriller and literary fiction – this is a supreme story of a young man caught between two worlds. Tariq is beset by danger on the streets and by conflict at home. Music is his only consolation. When he forms a new friendship with the volatile but intriguing record-store owner, Jamal, Tariq discovers the world of jazz and the man he could become. The violence that has long threatened finally erupts, and things suddenly clarify for Tariq. He takes the ultimate risk – not on behalf of his friend but on behalf of his enemy – and the disparate worlds of modern America and traditional Islam come together in an unexpected and gripping resolution. Written by Kevin Stevens