Hot Stew
a riotous novel about sex and money in Soho, from the Booker-shortlisted author of Elmet
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- 4,49 €
Description de l’éditeur
'Ambitious, clever, brilliant and very funny' Observer
'A dazzling Dickensian tale' Guardian
'Did you know in Tudor times all the brothels were south of the river in Southwark and it was only much later that they moved up this way to Soho. Stews, they were called then.'
Pungent, steamy, insatiable Soho; the only part of London that truly never sleeps. Tourists dawdling, chancers skulking, addicts shuffling, sex workers strutting, punters prowling, businessmen striding, the homeless and the lost. Down Wardour Street, ducking onto Dean Street, sweeping into L'Escargot, darting down quiet back alleyways, skirting dumpsters and drunks, emerging on to raucous main roads, fizzing with energy and riotous with life.
On a corner, sits a large townhouse, the same as all its neighbours. But this building hosts a teeming throng of rich and poor, full from the basement right up to the roof terrace. Precious and Tabitha call the top floors their home but it's under threat; its billionaire-owner Agatha wants to kick the women out to build expensive restaurants and luxury flats. Men like Robert, who visit the brothel, will have to go elsewhere. Those like Cheryl, who sleep in the basement, will have to find somewhere else to hide after dark. But the women won't go quietly. Soho is their turf and they are ready for a fight.
'A microcosm of swarming humanity' The Times
'Ambitious, scathing and damn good fun' TLS
Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mozley leaves the Yorkshire countryside of her Booker-shortlisted Elmet for the gritty streets of London in this lively contemporary Dickensian outing set in a Soho brothel. Wealthy, ruthless developer Agatha has her gaze fixed on the Aphra Behn, an apartment building inhabited largely by sex workers. Among them are Precious and Tabitha, who organize the other women to weigh their options after they're slapped by Agatha with an exorbitant rent hike; eventually, they go to the press. Meanwhile, a policewoman is dubiously assigned to investigate sex trafficking at the Aphra Behn by her commanding officer, manipulated by Agatha after a tête-à-tête. Of greater concern to the author than the fate of the building and its residents, though, are the social problems of poverty, addiction, and rising gentrification, which she roundly illustrates through depictions of the myriad men who frequent the brothel (among them an aspiring actor who plays a pimp in a stage play), and the neighborhood's homeless population and crew of drug addicts. Unfortunately, the main characters are often flatly reported and fail to leave a deep impression (on Precious: "For her, it is just a job. She does it for the money. She doesn't much like it or enjoy it but she didn't much enjoy her previous employment either"). Still, Mozley's ambition and vision make this a worthy effort.
