Winner of both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children’s Fiction prize, Melvin Burgess’s controversial young adult novel Junk redefined teenage fiction with its frank and honest portrayal of teenagers addicted to heroin in Bristol.

Junk = heroin = bliss = despair = a love affair you’ll never forget

Tar loves Gemma, but Gemma doesn’t want to be tied down – to anyone or anything. Gemma wants to fly. But no one can fly forever. One day, somehow, finally, you have to come down.

‘Haunting and remarkable for the insight and understanding with which the author develops the characters’ – Guardian

‘Believable and rivetingly readable. I couldn’t put it down’ – Evening Standard

‘A powerful talent who offers few easy solutions’ – The Times

Award-winning children’s author Melvin Burgess is one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary young adult fiction. His most well-known book Junk won the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Children’s Fiction prize and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year. Other titles by Melvin Burgess available from Penguin include: Sara’s Face, Nicholas Dane, Doing IT (winner of the LA Times Young People’s Book of the Year) and Kill All Enemies. If you enjoyed Junk and want to get inside more of your favourite books, then check out spinebreakers.co.uk for exclusive author interviews, competitions, and much more.