Shortlisted for the Pen to Print Award 2020

"I cannot recommend it enough. Aside from everything that is happening around Black Lives Matter, I would say this book is a must read." (Preetha Leela Chockalingam, author)

If you enjoyed the TV series Orange Is the New Black or the book Girl, Woman, Other you’ll love this novel.

Josie Channer, author of Diary of a Prison Officer, says, "I wrote the novel because I felt that the stories from the women of Holloway Prison needed to be told. From the prison governor, officers and prisoners, they all have a story to tell of love, heartbreak and triumph.”

It’s 2003, Tony Blair is still prime minister, and a shy loner from east London, Amber Campbell, joins the prison service searching for purpose.

Behind the walls of the women’s prison, Amber is determined to prove that she has what it takes to become a tornado officer. She makes a pact with two close friends to support each other no matter what. However, the three Black women struggle when they experience discrimination and disappointment at every turn.

There is rising racial tension in her hometown when far right local councilors are elected. Amber reflects on the prison system in her blog and takes an emotional journey off the beaten track through Africa to find love.