Area 25

Abstract

Area 25 is a novel written in British English, following six months in the lives of three teenaged girls and one young woman who live in the fictional town of Morvale, in the south east of England. Set fifteen years after the 7/7 London tube bombings of 2005, the narrative is told in first person character chapters after a teenaged boy is murdered in the local park on the anniversary of 7/7. British slang and speech styles of working class people in the south east of England are used throughout. Each character has one chapter for each month of the novel. The 'Area 25' of the title relates to an area of the brain which research in the 2000s linked to depression. The fictional drug DNaTeen, which Heather takes for depression after becoming paranoid about the murder, is described by the manufacturers as working with the patient's DNA and Area 25 of the brain. Intended as a YA cross-over novel, Area 25 explores themes of pharmacogenetics and mental health, ephebophilia, friendship, sexuality, and cultural fear of terrorism.