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Almost Dickensian in style and scope, Mozley’s rumbustious second novel revolves around the inhabitants of a Soho brothel and their determination to thwart a ruthless property developer.
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.
Publisher: John Murray Press
ISBN: 9781529327205
Number of pages: 320
Weight: 535 g
Dimensions: 238 x 164 x 34 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
Ambitious, clever, brilliant and very funny . . . If Elmet announced the arrival of a bright new voice in British literature, Hot Stew confirms Mozley as a writer of extraordinary empathic gifts - Observer
A dazzling Dickensian tale - Guardian, Book of the Day
A complex mosaic of urban life - The Times
A rollicking tale - Alex Preston, Observer
There's no evidence of difficult second-novel syndrome here . . . a pure nostalgia trip - Daily Mail
A gripping novel bursting with life. The second novel by the Booker-shortlisted novelist is a real treat - Sunday Times
Ambitious, scathing and damn good fun - TLS
A sprawling novel of London life packed with picaresque characters - Evening Standard
Where the mystical, elemental qualities of Elmet earned it comparisons with Lawrence and Hardy, her second novel is a sprawling urban comedy more likely to recall Ben Jonson or Dickens - Daily Telegraph
Mozley's prose is precise, controlled, unshowy, deceptively readable - Herald
Despite so many characters, the novel doesn't flail, it succeeds as a force . . . to direct so many through a labyrinthine story in just over 300 pages is a kind of mastery - Irish Times
A lively, pacy read that gives more than a nod to Dickens and is all the better for it - Sunday Independent Review
A lively, pacy read - Irish Independent
Mozley's Soho is a village populated by a cast of characters as vivid and memorable as any imagined by Dickens - Louise Kennedy
Hot Stew reads like a great night out in a city that never sleeps - Jan Carson
Her new stew is such a steaming, fuming mix of life, lust and London that in the end you feel like you've eaten all of Soho - Hallgrímur Helgason, author of The Woman at 1000 Degrees
Affecting and bitterly comic prose . . . [and a ] rollicking, heady vivacity - Big Issue
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“Some brilliant characters”
This book was sent to me digitally by Netgalley for review.
This was such a great read, it was almost like a patchwork quilt with pieces coming together to create a whole. The story is set in Soho and deals with...
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“Spectacular Soho”
Although I found this book a little confusing to start it was worth sticking with. The opening few chapters left me feeling like I wasn’t quite clever enough to follow the stories of the different characters set out... More
“A love letter to Soho”
Hot Stew shows us the Soho that I love and miss, teeming with life and excitement. However, it also reveals the darker underbelly; the prostitutes, the vagrants, the illegal immigrant workers. This fast paced novel... More
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