Junk cover art

Junk

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Junk

By: Melvin Burgess
Narrated by: Katrina Baylis
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About this listen

An ambitious and complex novel with a multi-faceted and vivid depiction of a group of young people in the grip of drug addiction, told in many different voices, from the addicts themselves to the friends watching from the outside who try to prevent tragedy.

It was a love story.

Me, Gemma and junk.

I thought it was going to last forever. It was the biggest adventure of my life.

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

Junk is a powerful, unflinching novel about a group of teenagers caught in the grip of heroin addiction. Once you take a hit, you will never be the same again.

Warning: strong violence, themes and coarse language

©1996 Melvin Burgess (P)2002 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
Bullying & Abuse Depression Depression & Mental Health Difficult Situations Literature & Fiction Physical & Emotional Abuse Mental Health

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Critic reviews

"Melvin Burgess’ ground-breaking Junk remains the best book about teenagers and drugs to this day." (Guardian)

"Junk has a perfect sense of time and place, characters who feel real and it may just be the best YA book ever." (Robert Muchamore)

"Personally I prefer the love triangle in Melvin Burgess' Junk, in which Tar's devotion to heroin split he and Gemma apart." (Juno Dawson, author of Wonderland)

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