Description
Book Synopsis1970s London: Young Michael runs past the railway arches and terraces of Vauxhall. Reaching the street on which he lives, he witnesses a young girl fall from a window, her sari floating down behind her. Her lifeless body lies crumpled on the ground. This incident marks the beginning of a period in which Michael's life threatens to unravel. From his sister's taunts to a series of house fires, police harassment, his parents' crumbling marriage and the realisation that the council intends to clear out the 'slum' he calls home, he learns to navigate his way through an array of obstacles, big and small. An extraordinary debut novel, Vauxhall tells a warm and hopeful story of a young boy and the city that surrounds him.
Trade Review'An incredible and surprising pleasure to read' Fay Weldon, A Good Read BBC Radio Four 'Only a poet could have written Vauxhall - clean, swift and with flashes of lightning' Bonnie Greer 'A tenderly observed, fascinating portrait of a childhood in South London' Blake Morrison 'A remarkable achievement' Brian Chikwava, author of 'Harare North' 'A powerful novel ... Gabadamosi describes with poetic rhythm a child's awakening in a violent, confusing London' Daily Mail 'Vauxhall is an affecting work, that shines a light on the multi-shaded, multi-ethnic London we have come to know. - In pages of vivid prose, Gbadamosi conjures Vauxhall's cultural pasticcio of Jamaicans, Africans, Irish and Guyanese. - Like B.S. Johnson before him, Gbadamosi puts the most humdrum if revealing of autobiographical details into the writing. Memories of listening to Yoruba-style dance-floor music and of eating Ambrosia cream custard out of tins intrude seamlessly. Vauxhall is a book of rare poetic insight and humour that absorbs from start to finish.' Ian Thomson, The Spectator
