Two gems of London life...
The Impoverished (title NM, text JM)
Hal
Jape has reached crisis point. His cushy job writing online reviews of digital
equipment looks to be coming to an end, his long-term girlfriend has left him
for a would-be property developer, and his children have stopped speaking to
him. His early mid-life crisis leads him to book into the notorious spiritual
retreat ‘Urban Hope’. Hosted by an
inner-city priest, the retreat is located in a disused tower block in Newham. During his time of spiritual cleansing, Hal
meets the charismatic Reverend Blush and an ill-matched cast of media
has-beens, long-term no hopers and second-rate academics all hoping, like Hal,
for a 21st century redemption.
Part tragi-comedy, part dark satire of modern civilisation, ‘The
Impoverished’ offers hope, critique and ripe belly laughs to a discerning
reader.
The 21st Century (title NM,
text JM)
A
sobering tale set in the not-too-distant future. ‘The 21st Century’ is
an antique shop with a difference: most of the objects it contains are not
antiques, and many of them do not even exist yet. Conceptual
artist-turned-shop-keeper Alan Sand, disillusioned with modern society and
achingly frustrated with his failure to succeed as first an artist then as an entrepreneur,
burns his collection of artworks and business stock, and rebrands his Dalston
shop as ‘The 21st Century’, throwing open his doors one evening to reveal nothing for
sale bar two carriage clocks. Alan finally
unwittingly achieves the fame he has so long craved through offering an
increasingly jaded metropolitan public what they never realised they wanted: a
baroque assortment of nothing for the home. The story of his fall, rise and eventual
final fall are told with wry affection in this startling first novel.
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