It is May 1984 and the time of the miners' strike. Jarrod Brook, a rebel without a cause, returns to Brightlingsea, Essex, after being expelled from a state boarding school, to find that his mum has given his bedroom to a striking miner.

Along with his best mate, Colin, over a long, eventful summer Jarrod is drawn into petty criminality while also trying to impress Verity, an outspoken young feminist.

Then the repercussions of a drunken night out conspire to test the limits of friendship and to show how a well-meaning and quite innocent young man can end up behind bars.

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Jim Westover was born in Kent in 1968 and grew up in Brightlingsea, Essex. He left school with one O-Level and fell into labouring work, including a year spent renovating old farm buildings in France.

He later moved to London to study journalism and publishing. Around this time, he dabbled in poetry, and one of his poems won a BBC Reggae Writing Competition. He also wrote lyrics, and performed regularly with Colchester art punks, Maniac Squat.

While working the nightshift at a media monitoring company writing summaries of newspaper articles, he took an MA in Fiction at Middlesex University. He currently lives with his partner in Bethnal Green, East London. 'Penknife' is his first novel.

Visit www.penknifenovel.com to find out more.

"Seen through the perspective of a young man full of both good intentions and weaknesses, Penknife is a highly readable book, gritty, poignant, funny, at times tragic, and set against the political and economic dogma we now call "Thatcherism,” but whose continuity is easily recognised in today’s Westminster debacles. It may be Westover’s first novel, but I predict it won’t be his last. A good read."
Sylvia Hikins

Read the entire Morning Star Literature Review here.

In October 2022, Jim was featured in the Brightlingsea and Wivenhoe Chronicle, and also in the Colchester Gazette here.

Review by Duncan Campbell, bestselling author of ‘Underworld: The definitive History of British Organised Crime’ and former Guardian crime reporter (Inside Time, the national newspaper for prisoners and detainees):
https://insidetime.org/knifeman-written-good/

Article about the novel and author, by editor, David Bridle (Brightlingsea Info):
https://brightlingsea.info/brightlingsea-forms-the-backdrop-to-author-jims-novel-of-self-discovery/

Review by Roual Galloway (Stand Up and Spit poetry blog):
https://standupandspit.wordpress.com/2022/10/20/pen-knife/