David, a protagonist, who hates primary school where he has been bullied for his Iranian heritage, more recently he was beaten up and humiliated by Muslim teenagers, and has reached sixth form without any friends.  He stops studying for his A-levels and, after working in a supermarket for several months, begins spending most of his time in his bedroom on the internet. As somebody who is searching for meaning and community, David is vulnerable to charlatans peddling easy answers to complex questions and shortcuts to belonging. Music is the only that keeps him going. Inspired by his hero Karl Williams, he becomes vegan, wears eyeliner and write song lyrics. But one night he goes to Brixton Academy to see onstage Karl Williams (a fictional singer who, like Morrissey, is a vegan and makes controversial bigoted remarks about British identity), accuses Muslims of homophobia, “ Islam not being compatible with Western values”  and is cancelled. Conflicted by his feelings for his favourite artist and compelled by the conversations he has while playing Call of Duty, David becomes more and more fascinated by the far right’s narratives of masculinity in conflict with liberal society. Padamsee writes in a scene that conjures the exhilaration of watching a performance among like-minded fans : “ There is no menace in the  crowd. Everyone is on the same team”. This sense of unity does not last, with the novel giving less importance of music to young people than about divisions in contemporary society and especially online radicalisation.

David mother came to Britain from Iran, while his father was an electrician in the British Army. Their divorce  a few years ago ruptured David’s routine and sense of home. 

As these second-generation immigrants struggle for a sense of identity and belonging- amid a wave of online radicalisation and extremism- their fates become inextricably, catastrophically entwined, after sticking up for Karl Williams in the face of puritanical fans and media censorship, David descends into dark corners of the internet, and joins a community of “Aryans only” ( he argues that Iran is the birthplace of Aryans) where users such as Supreme Commander @RitterKreuz encourage “Rekruts” to resist the Islamists takeover of Europe and the US.

Living in the same East London Borough as David, Hassan has his own problems. He is drifting apart from his childhood friends, Mo and Ibrahim, who drink, blaze skunk an mock him for hanging out at the Muslim Youth centre, where he is older than everyone else. Determined to make something of himself, he volunteers for his local mosque and works hard to try to get the grades he needs to go to university. David’ story is counterpointed by that of Hassan who is negotiating similar questions of identity but is coming up with different answers. The pair meet early in the novel and are drawn together again as it reach its denouement.

England is mine is packed with buzzy references to pop music, video gaming and football, and several chapters  of internet messaging.

David fantasises and plans something that he believes will win the attention and approval that he craves.  David has become dangerous man yet he is  still a frightened boy who needs to be loved.

England is Mine by Nicolas Padamsee, Serpent’s tail £16.99, 336 pages.