Heart of THE CITY
A COMMUNITY FIGHTS A GREEDY DEVELOPER
Places are often important in stories, but in this novel the setting seems like the key character. Soho is a warren of narrow streets in central London, almost a little village in a way. With its mix of strip joints, seedy pubs, private clubs and restaurants, it is a colourful area, filled with interesting characters. But in recent years, property developers have moved in and Soho has become increasingly gentrified.
That is the story at the centre of Hot Stew. The novel focuses on one dilapidated Georgian building under threat of re-development and puts the lives of the people who spend time in it under a microscope. On the ground floor is a French restaurant, upstairs a brothel and secret garden, and in the cellar, a group of homeless people have settled. The building’s owner, wealthy Agatha, doesn’t care about its inhabitants. She wants them gone so she can push on with her plans. But the prostitutes are smart and stroppy, unlikely to be evicted without a fight, and they have their supporters.
From there, the story sprawls outwards, and its threads spool and tangle, with more and more characters – some of whom are very loosely connected.
Reading Hot Stew feels like being right inside the novel, meeting a few people, learning what they care about and think, then moving on but perhaps bumping into them again later.
Sex worker Precious and her flatmate Tabitha are the closest we get to central characters, but even the ones who only make a brief appearance are carefully drawn and shaded.
Just like Soho itself, this novel is filled with a wide variety of life – so many ideas, questions and themes, so many moods. It is brilliantly done, complicated, yes, but also quirky and unexpected, and despite its rambling nature, never difficult to navigate.