Lynch's Road by D.D. Armstrong

I met the author of this book at the official launch of Brenton Brown by Alex Wheatle. I was bowled over by D.D's passion for writing and he sent me an extract of the book. A friend of mine, a West Londoner had the book, it seems it has a cult underground following for anyone living in a "W.XX" postcode. Being an East Londoner, I know how West London thinks we are naff, so I was hoping D.D's book would give me a bit more insight into "West".

D.D's story-telling is extremely clever, witty, pacey and most of all believeable. I believed in every single one of the characters; from the major to the minor ones. Without giving too much away, the book is an excellent example of a story within a story. The premise of the book is that a drug dealer's story is distributed amongst a group of characters in West London. His story has a profound and lasting effect on each of them. This is where D.D's skill as a writer really shines through. It would be quite easy to portray the effect of a drug dealer's tale on various characters as one-dimensional: from pusher to punter. But where this book excels is in the perpetual motion of cause and effect.

The book presents us with stark realities of London life, from rich to poor, white to non-white, social class to underclass. It's not presented in a preachy or patronising self-indulgent manner either. D.D has been balanced in taking archetypal representatives from each background and stripping away the mechanical stratifications and laying them bare, so that Gilyan's tale can be imprinted on them. 

Gilyan's tale interestingly is called The Journey of a Slave, he is a slave to his trade: dealing, shottin', juggling. He is a slave to the super-imposed restrictions that wider society and culture jealously forces upon him. But he is resisting, his journey of self-realisation in turn awakens self-realisation for the characters who read his story. His tale could be interpreted as the harbinger of doom or salvation for some.

I have been quite careful not to give any spoilers away as Lynch's Road does not have the 'bank rolling' of a major publishing house behind it so that it can afford a few spoilers; it is published by a small PULP house called SmashnGrab Books. I would strongly recommend you all to read this,  it's brave, honest and best of all has a sense of place and location that Londoners will recognise and love. 

I found the story of Jade (a single mother) who also happens to read The Journey of a Slave particularly important, and I am glad that D.D spoke from the perspective of a young single mother. As group in society, the label "single mother" just lends itself to stigma and approbation. What Jade takes from Gilyan's tale is fundamental; I think to her maturity and her outlook. Again, no spoilers, so you will have to read for yourself. I only mention this, because is is argued that young male writers cannot possible relate to the existence of young women, especially young women who are in a disadvantaged position. D.D clearly knows his readership, he knows that young women, mothers or not will be inspired to read his book, and the story of Gilyan may have a particular resonance for some of them. 

What I like best is that this book is authentic, sometimes you come across a book in which an author desperately tries to authenticise something which they have never actually experienced for themselves. Like I am not going to try and write about fly-fishing, a) because I couldn't give a fuck about fly-fishing and b) I couldn't give a fuck about fly-fishing. But D.D's tale reeks of authenticity, when he tells us through Gilyan's eyes the manoeuvres he has to make to keep the feds' off his back, deal with lousy punters, etc it is believeable.

For more info on the author: D.D Armstrong and where to buy a copy of Lynch's Road see here:

SmashandGrab Books