So-so in Soho

York novelist Fiona Mozley’s follow-up to her Booker-shortlisted novel Elmet fails to stir the pot.

The outline of the story is simple. It centres on a brothel, run somewhat improbably as a co-operative. Hence the novel’s title, “stew” being late mediaeval and Tudor slang for a brothel. Precious and Valerie, the latter retired from active service as a prostitute, both with, not surprisingly, hearts of gold, live in domestic bliss on the top floor. The lower floors are working quarters and the basement is occupied by derelicts and outcasts.

All this is now threatened. The owner of the property, a rich young woman called Agatha, wants to expel the prostitutes and redevelop the building as luxury flats. It’s a common story and one that is sadly completely credible.

This is more than can be said for Agatha, youngest daughter born to a very old and rich property developer with a criminal past, now happily dead. She has inherited not only his fortune, but also his right-hand man, fixer, organiser of violence etc, and has a tiresome and improbable mother. There is also a sub-plot featuring a group who were at Cambridge together and are finding, or failing to find, their feet in a world governed by money and greed.

They are quite, but not very, interesting. Their involvement with the brothel plot is somewhat peripheral. Indeed, the better or more interesting passages dealing with them seem to belong to a different and more serious novel.

Mozley writes with great verve and lively