There’s Demetri, from the Willow Academy, who joins Jhemar in testifying at the House of Commons All Party Political Group on knife crime and later studies sociology at Goldsmiths. There’s Jhemar, a 15-year-old at school who produces a ‘Book of Wisdom’ so he can ‘…get better at dissecting words’, and whose elder brother Michael is himself a victim of stabbing. It is certainly about violence and loss, but Thapar is right to emphasise that it is also about hope. But really, it’s a human story about empathy, relationships and adolescence and it’s an impassioned critique of social policy as it affects young people. The book is ostensibly about knife crime and black young people in London. It is the story of the young people he befriends, their families and communities and the journey of growing respect and support he undertakes with them. ‘Cut Short’ tells the story of Thapar’s work over three years as a school mentor, Access Project worker, volunteer at Jacob Sawyer Community Centre and prison youth worker in south London. For a first book, it demonstrates a rare and precocious talent.

Its author, Ciaran Thapar, describes himself as a youth worker first and social activist second and it is the skilful writing, the interweaving of personal stories, social analysis and political polemic, that give the book its potency and strength.

This is a compelling, powerful and beautifully written book. “Cut Short – Youth Violence, Loss and Hope in the City” by Ciaran Thapar (Penguin Viking, 2021)

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