Junk
Age 13+
Personal & Social Issues: Drugs & Addiction Romance & Relationships Stories Personal & Social Issues: Bullying, Violence & Abuse Personal & Social Issues: Sexuality & Relationships
It was a love story. Me, Gemma and junk. I thought it was going to last forever.
Tar loves Gemma, but Gemma doesn't want to be tied down. She wants to fly. But no one can fly forever. One day, finally, you have to come down. Melvin Burgess’ most ambitious and complex novel is a vivid depiction of a group of teenagers in the grip of addiction. Told from multiple viewpoints, Junk is a powerful, unflinching novel about heroin. Once you take a hit, you will never be the same again.
'Everyone should read Junk' The Times
Creators
Melvin Burgess was born in London and brought up in Surrey and Sussex. He has had a variety of jobs before becoming a full-time writer. Before his first novel, he had short stories published and a play broadcast on Radio 4. He is now regarded as one of the best writers in contemporary children's literature, having won the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for his acclaimed novel Junk.
Reviews
Everyone should read Junk
The Times
Melvin Burgess’s ground-breaking Junk remains the best book about teenagers and drugs to this day’
Guardian
This book is beguiling, layered and filled with a boldness that comes with youth.
Believable and rivetingly readable. I couldn’t put it down.
Evening Standard
An absolute must-read for any teenager and an essential eye-opener to any parent of a teenager… utterly compelling and terrifying by turns.
Lovereading
