At once agonising and mesmerising, Nightcrawling presents a haunting vision of marginalised young people navigating the darkest corners of an adult world.

‘When there is no choice, all you have left to do is walk.’

Determined to survive in a world that refuses to protect her, a 17-year-old girl finds herself walking the mean streets of Oakland after dark. When she is picked up by the police, the gruesome deal they offer in exchange for her freedom lands her at the centre of a media storm - and facing a terrible choice. If she agrees to testify, she could help expose the corruption of a police department. But honesty comes at a price - one that could leave her family vulnerable to retaliation, and endanger everyone she loves.

"... a powerful, poignant story worth your attention... [Mottley] wastes no time with subtlety. She’s describing people whose lives are a series of shocks and humiliations that arrive with such regularity that they’ve become routine ... In these opening pages, Mottley effectively outlines the perilous economy of poverty in America. It’s a dramatic accounting that gives tangible form to what millions of invisible people endure amid so much bounty ... My god - that voice. It’s sometimes too painful to keep reading, but always too urgent to stop." - Ron Charles, The Washington Post

Leila Mottley was born in 2003 in Oakland, California, where she still lives and works. At age 16, Mottley was named 2018 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate, after two years as runner-up. She has performed and led numerous poetry workshops, and has been published in various journals and anthologies in the United States, including the New York Times. She began writing Nightcrawling - her debut novel - at the age of 17, and it was published before she turned 20.

Nightcrawling: A Novel

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