Miles From Nowhere, by Nami Mun, Virago; £9.99

JOON is a Korean girl of 16 whose parents emigrated to the US when she was eight.

When she was 12 her father left her mother. Her mother sinks into a state of mental illness that is almost catatonic and Joon does her best to make her mother communicate, cutting off her own hair to shock her, playing heavy metal really loudly and staring at her. Nothing works and Joon eventually leaves home when she is 13.

She spends a few weeks at a shelter in the Bronx where she meets Knowledge, a streetwise young girl who acts as Joon’s protector. With Wink, a young male prostitute, they start a life on the streets.