Charlotte Pickering

Messiah of the Slums Charlotte Pickering

Shriveton, a 21st century sink estate on the outskirts of Liverpool, is controlled by the Incubo, a global drug lord. Corrupt law enforcement, endemic unemployment and social fragmentation have made it a fertile land for unfettered criminality. For decades, the Shriveton people have put up, and shut up, because to challenge the status quo is fatal. The Incubo is the only employer in the area, and the only way out for his soldiers, mostly recruited as primary-school boys, is death. But rumours have sprung up about a mysterious and always solitary, young Muslim woman. She is defiant in the face of the evil all around, and seen variously as a friend of the friendless, healer of the sick, priestess, saint, lover, saviour and god incarnate. The revolution she sparks is characterised by savagery, bewilderment and outrageous acts of mercy. Told through the eyes of Shriveton's radicals, dealers, prostitutes, users and kingpins, Messiah of the Slums is her story.