Patrice Lawrence

Patrice Lawrence was born in Brighton and brought up in an Italian-Trinidadian household in Mid Sussex. This meant great holidays and even better food. She found her way to east London in the 1990s and has acquired a cat called Stormageddon.

Patrice worked for more than 20 years for charities supporting equality and social justice. These themes (along with a serious amount of music – her ideal mixtape includes drum 'n' bass, Bruce Springsteen and Studio Ghibli soundtracks) inform her stories and music can't help creeping into her books.

Her first book for young adults, Orangeboy, won the Bookseller YA Prize and Waterstone’s Prize for Older Children's Fiction.

Books by Patrice Lawrence

Eight Pieces of Silva

Eighteen-year-old Silva is meant to be looking after her 16-year-old stepsister Becks while their parents are on a belated honeymoon to Japan, but when Silva doesn’t come home, Becks decides to check out her bedroom and then her worries really kick off.

Reviewed on 25 September 2021 by Linda Wilson

Indigo Donut

Indigo’s mother was murdered when she was a small child, but the past has a nasty habit of coming back to haunt her.

Reviewed on 25 November 2017 by Linda Wilson

Orangeboy

Marlon promised his mother that he would have nothing to do with drugs, but when he falls under Sonya’s spell, keeping that promise suddenly becomes a lot more difficult.

Reviewed on 25 June 2016 by Linda Wilson