Toxic Treacle

This is a world without parents. There are nurturers – women who bear and raise children, and breeders – men whose only obligation is to produce three offspring and then leave. No responsibilities, no involvement, no contact. This is a world devoid of paternal relationships, of parental homes, of families.

Micky “Monkey” Gibbon is counting down the days until graduation – until he can leave high school, start playing professional football, breed with his high-school crush, Angel, and enjoy living the life of a breeder. He can’t understand why his best mate, Tragic, is so sceptical. Who wouldn’t want to escape the oppressive rules of the TREACLE regime (Training and Resources for Educating Adolescent Children in a Loving Environment), where there’s unrest on the streets and frequent disappearances? Life couldn’t get better. Until Tragic disappears…

A mysterious clue left in Tragic’s abandoned house opens a whole plethora of questions. Enlisting the help of Angel, Micky embarks on a desperate quest to find his friend, but each step closer to Tragic is a step away from the safety of the world he thought he knew.

Angel and Micky want to uncover the truth, and in the process determine the paths their own lives will take…but rebellion comes at a high price. Angel and Monkey must choose between what is accepted, and what they think is right. Complicated by forbidden love and intertwined with fear, Toxic Treacle is a provocative consideration of what family, masculinity, and fatherhood really mean today.