Trapped Life

Regular price €23.99
Quantity:
Delivery/Collection within 10-20 working days
Shipping & Delivery
A01=Ebony Reid
Author_Ebony Reid
black british book
black community
block
Category=DNC
Category=JBSD
Category=JKV
combating inequality
community as urban practice
crime and poverty
criminologist book
criminology
culture
economics
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
feminism
housing estate
identity
inner city london
london
london book
london community
memoirs
politics
pop culture
poverty
poverty in london
poverty in uk
resilience
social history
social justice
society
telling true stories
the bookie
the city
urban history
urban life
urban london book

Product details

  • ISBN 9781529911893
  • Weight: 370g
  • Dimensions: 224 x 269mm
  • Publication Date: 16 Apr 2026
  • Publisher: Cornerstone
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Hardback
Secure checkout Fast Shipping Easy returns

'Vital' Marcel Theroux

'I loved this book' Anna Whitwham

'This book will fundamentally alter your mindset. There is no going back for peopledem after reading Trapped Life.' Olivette Otele

'This book offers unrivalled insight into the joys and pains of life on Britain’s socio-economic periphery' Jonathan Ilan

'Fast paced, gripping, thoughtful and caring: the tale of one of London’s most deprived neighbourhoods, as seen from the inside' Danny Dorling

'Trapped Life lays bare the challenges of the inner city environment and offers a valuable new perspective’ Joy White

‘An urgent and pressurised account of lives which are often reduced to headlines. This is not just a book - it’s a reckoning’ Scorcher

Trapped Life is a searing & tender recollection of tangled roots, survival & community, sprinkled with joy’ ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Jade LB


‘The roads don’t forget, and old reputations cling on, drawing trouble even when someone’s trying to start fresh.’

Take a step into the heart of the British inner city with Trapped Life, a searingly candid narrative that shatters sensationalist headlines to reveal the authentic lives of the mandem on the infamous Northville Estate in London. Dr Ebony Reid, through personal and professional insights, offers a raw and intimate look at a vibrant and complex community, often misunderstood by wider society. In a year spent on her childhood estate, Reid's powerful storytelling blends reality with creative narrative, taking you through The Cotch, The Block, and even to the Bookies – some of the prominent landmarks of Northville. This urgent and dignified account exposes the devastating socio-economic disparity in urban Britain, making Trapped Life not just a book, but a call to understand and change the lives of those trapped by their circumstances.

Ebony Reid is a criminologist and ethnographer who specialises in researching street crime and violence in inner-city London. Having grown up on an estate in London, she dedicates her academic teaching and research to examining the cycles of poverty, psychosocial factors, and the related violence that frequently underpin ‘Trap Life’. Trapped Life is her first book.

More from this author