“How does a government steal a child and then imprison him? How does it keep that a secret? This book is how.”
“I was a man, that much was clear. But, years after I became one, I still wondered what, exactly, that meant.”
“So there I lie on the plateau, under me the central core of fire from which was thrust this grumbling grinding mass of plutonic rock”
“The only difference between a medicine and a poison is the dosage.”
“Twelve. That was the year that I learned that being Black and poor defined me more than being bright and hopeful and ready.”
‘A hugely commendable debut, assured and memorable. Crime fiction may have its prize-winner at last’
Lesley McDowell
Independent
‘Dillard is triumphantly awake, and these essays are magnificent and dramatic, illuminating and inspirational. Read them; they brim with abundance’
Gavin Francis
The Guardian
‘A writer who never seems tired, who has never plodded her way through a page or sentence, she can only be enjoyed by a wide-awake reader.’ Geoff Dyer’s foreword to The Abundance is available to read at Literary Hub.
Geoff Dyer
Literary Hub
“This is a debut novel and it’s an intense psychological, even apocalyptic thriller. But Chanter is also a poet, and the way she writes is graceful, evocative and emotional.”
Judy Finnigan
WH Smith Blog