Dark Heart: The Story of a Journey into an Undiscovered Britain - Softcover

"This book should be required reading...it will shock many to the quick, that all this could be happening under their noses" (Jack Straw Guardian)

"He describes what he sees and hears with exemplary clarity, neither pulling punches nor exaggerating... Read him to discover how dreadful a country much of Britain has become" (Theodore Dalrymple Sunday Telegraph)

"A most powerful and harrowing piece of investigative journalism...it takes a very brave and persistent reporter to reach the hidden part of Britain that Davies has chosen to explore" (Peregrine Worsthorne New Statesman)

"If you want to find out about the poor, you have to go looking. Most people, most writers, don't bother. Nick Davies has bothered, and he should be congratulated...his analysis is spot on" (Robert Crampton The Times)

"A brilliant journalistic investigation... A copy should be sent to every Labour MP to remind them of their responsibilities" (Robert McCrum Observer)

'This all began quite unexpectedly one rainy autumn evening a couple of years ago in a fairground near to the centre of Nottingham...'

In amongst the bright lights and bumper cars, Nick Davies noticed two boys, no more than twelve years old, oddly detached from the fun of the scene. Davies discovered they were part of a network of children selling themselves on the streets of the city, running a nightly gauntlet of dangers: pimps, punters, the Vice Squad, disease, drugs. This propelled Davies into a journey of discovery through the slums and ghettoes of our cities. He found himself in crack houses and brothels, he befriended street gangs and drug dealers.

Davies' journey into the hidden realm is powerful, disturbing and impressive, and is bound to rouse controversy and demands for change. He unravels threads of Britain`s social fabric as he travels deeper and deeper into the country of poverty, towards the dark heart of British society.