Salaam Brick Lane: A Year in the New East End
Well-written without mawkish pieties. Saga Magazine 'Charming, brilliant, affectionate and quietly impassioned ... it manages to be balanced, humane and life-affirming. I hope it sells out faster than cases of Chalky's "Coat de Roen"'. Guardian Tarquin Hall is right at the heart of what he writes about ... Hall's new friends spring brilliantly to life off the page ... it's hard to imagine a more moving or more telling record of lives on the edge Caroline Gascoigne, Sunday Times Amused and amusing, this is a refreshing addition to the accounts being offered of the area. Stratford Recorder Forthright and funny Daily Telegraph Fascinating and funny Canterbury, Herne Bay, Whitstable & Faversham Focu Powerful Kent Messenger I was absolutely riveted. It's funny, enlightening and very moving ... I'm recommending it to all my friends just because it's such a good read. Kate Fox, author of Watching the English He has a fine ear for the myriad speech patterns of the East End's varied inhabitants. Daily Mail A remarkable cross-section of British society ... Hall's sympathetic, anecdotal approach is a fine counter to the appalling racism of much current tabloid journalism ... This is a fine and eloquent book. What's On UK This is a beautifully written book about a world we ignore except when it makes tabloid headlines. American Entertaining ... Hall cannily plays the bewildered public schoolboy to a range of different characters ... allows us to hear the wonderful patter of the East Enders Times Literary Supplement Fascinating and funny Sunday Times 'Entertaining' Bookseller Such a light, playful book and yet with a compelling tow which takes you into the myriad realities of life in the East End of London. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown 'A thought-provoking read ... fascinating insights into fractured lives. And Hall's affectionate portrayals of eccentric acquaintances enhance this touching portrait no end' Metro 'Tender and harrowing' The Times 'He brings a sharp eye and a dry humour to his descriptions' Anthony Sattin, Sunday Times 'A gem of a book that reveals a hidden world lying right on our doorstep. As the stories unfold, so does our appreciation for Tarquin Hall's acute eye and for the gentle power of his narrative' Saira Shah, writer and broadcaster 'Salaam Brick Lane is a compelling journey of discovery by an outsider in his own city and offers an explicit glimpse of this quarter of London' Traveller