BALI RAI
I was born in Leicester in 1971 and grew up in a multicultural, multi-racial community close to the city centre. As a child I dreamt about three things – playing football for Liverpool FC, being Bob Marley and becoming a writer. At the age of eleven I read the book that would inspire me to write. It was The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend.
I moved to London to attend Southbank University. I graduated in 1994 with a degree in Politics. For the next two years I moved from one awful job to another until personal circumstances (and a lack of money) forced my return to Leicester. Over the next few years I worked for a large supermarket, sold random things over the phone, and eventually settled as the manager of a bar and then assistant manager of a nightclub. It was during this latter period that I began to write my first novel, (un)arranged marriage.
I am a massive fan of reggae music and Liverpool FC. I also read every day (my favourite genre is crime fiction) although not always fiction. I believe that non-fiction, graphic novels, comics and newspapers etc…are just as valid as forms of reading. I also love to cook, to travel and to watch film.
THE CREW Meet Ellie, Jas, Della, Will and Billy. They're tough. They're street-smart. They're the Crew, and they live in what they call the Ghetto - the estates round the city centre where everyone is skint and it's important to stick together. No-one has a go once you're part of a gang. Except, sometimes, the older gangs who can be really dangerous
THE WHISPER
The Crew didn't think things could ever get that bad again. They were seriously wrong. Things have calmed down for the Crew (Billy, Ellie, Della, Jas and Will) and life in the Ghetto is ticking on as usual. But things are about to kick-off all over again. The police have launched Operation Clean-up and dealers are regularly being pulled off the street and into the police station. Someone's got to be grassing them up, and soon Nanny and the Crew are getting blamed. Billy is mugged, Ellie is picked on in school, and Billy's house is being targeted. The Crew need to find out who's pointing the finger before things get really serious. As tough and uncompromising as ever, Bali's latest novel won't disappoint his army of fans and will undoubtedly win him many more. A thrilling sequel that also stands alone