Buy this title

Against All Odds

By Nathanael Lessore

Defy expectations in this laugh-out-loud World Book Day teen comedy about chasing your dreams and refusing to be boxed in, from the multi-award-winning author of STEADY FOR THIS and KING OF NOTHING!

Details

Children's fiction
Published: 12/02/2026
ISBN number: 9781471420009
Price: £1.00
Imprint: Hot Key Books
Length: 112 pages
Edition: Paperback
Genre: Comedy

Against All Odds

By Nathanael Lessore

Buy this title

Paperback
Audiobook

Details

Children's fiction
Published: 12/02/2026
ISBN number: 9781471420009
Price: £1.00
Imprint: Hot Key Books
Length: 112 pages
Edition: Paperback
Genre: Comedy

Defy expectations in this laugh-out-loud World Book Day teen comedy about chasing your dreams and refusing to be boxed in, from the multi-award-winning author of STEADY FOR THIS and KING OF NOTHING!

Defy expectations in this laugh-out-loud World Book Day teen comedy about chasing your dreams and refusing to be boxed in, from the multi-award-winning author of Steady For This and King of Nothing!

Noranto knows who he is. Or at least, he thinks he does.

Footballer. Hustler. One of the boys. He’s got the playground game on lock and big plans for his mum’s birthday this weekend. But poetry? That’s just something he does quietly – in his head, on the bus, between goals.

Then his teacher spots his talent and urges him to enter a writing competition. Noranto laughs it off. The deadline’s in three days and he’s already got too much on. His mates agree – poetry doesn’t win matches.

But the rhymes won’t stop coming. And a voice inside him keeps asking: What if this is his shot?

As the weekend unfolds, Noranto is pulled between what’s expected of him and who he really wants to be. Can he find the words – and the courage to share them – against all the odds?

Authors

Nathanael Lessore

Nathanael Lessore was born in Camberwell, South East London, as one of eight children to French and Madagascan parents. Although he has spent most of his life in Peckham, Nathanael has also lived in Paris, Strasbourg and Singapore. Nathanael can run 100 metres in under 10 minutes and has trouble finding sunglasses that frame his face properly. His debut book Steady For This was shortlisted for the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing 2024 and won the Branford Boase Award 2024. He is also the author of King of Nothing, and writes stories that show his South East London childhood as the funny, warm, adventurous world that wasn’t always represented as such.