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| Weidenfeld & Nicholson 2015 |
When twenty year old Vivien Epstein's father dies, she makes the momentous decision to move from Manchester to London, ostensibly, to advance her career as a hair dresser but also to track down Jack Fox, a man she had a passionate, but all too brief an affair with some months before her father died.
London in the swinging sixties
with all its colour and vivacity comes to life and yet, underneath the cheerful
gaiety of working with the girls in Oscar’s hair establishment, a dark cloud is
looming and Vivien soon learns that life in London is going to be very
different. Searching for Jack is like looking for the proverbial needle in a
haystack but Vivien is determined to track him down. Her search takes
her into the dark and dangerous world of fascist propaganda and as she gets
drawn into a maelstrom of hatred and violence, she begins to realise that Jack
may have to remain hidden for a very good reason.
I was engrossed in this story
from the beginning. It’s beautifully written, with a real sense, not just of time and place, but there's also a tangible awareness of something ugly taking
place. The violence, the destruction of common values and the overwhelming
futility of a community at odds with itself is clearly well researched. The
story of the Jewish 62 Group which was formed to challenge the resurgence in
fascism at this time is something of which, I'm ashamed to say, I knew nothing,
but, by cleverly combining fact with fiction, the author has given me a greater awareness of this difficult time. And yet, all this is in direct contrast to the
frivolity of life for Vivien working happily in Oscar’s, until she discovers what’s
really happening in the streets around the East End.
In a way, Ridley Road is Vivien’s
coming of age story. We watch as she goes from naïve ingénue to young womanhood
and overcomes the ugliness of hatred in an inspirational love story, which helps
to show that love will always challenge, and hopefully, overcome adversity.
A commendable novel and well
worth reading.
My thanks to the author for sharing her book with me
and to the publishers Weidenfeld & Nicholson for my copy of this book.
~***~
I've had this on my TBR for a while but after reading your great review I really want to read this book very soon.
ReplyDeleteHi Hayley - thanks for visiting. Don't leave this book unread for too long - happy reading !!
DeleteAdded to the wish list!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Linda. Well worth reading :)
DeleteSuch a great book, I really enjoyed it
ReplyDeleteA x
http://randomthingsthroughmyletterbox.blogspot.co.uk/
Hi Anne, I think you liked this one as much as I did!
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