Hot Stew by  Fiona Mozley

Hot Stew

Fiona Mozley

At its heart is the eviction of a group of female sex workers from their Soho brothel. Yet this multi-layered, multi-character story is far richer than its back page description suggests. Like a giant jigsaw puzzle, the narrative threads slowly come together as each character's backstory is revealed. I was expecting a sex novel, but instead discovered a surprisingly opulent tale of friendship and courage rivalling bureaucratic greed.

Extract

They entered the city and found succour in its fetid core. Some came for sex. Some came for drugs. Some came for pints and packets of crisps. Some came for jobs. The fortunates came in the evening and left before the dawn. The unfortunates stayed for longer. 

Parallels
  • The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara
  • N-W by Zadie Smith
Borrow this book
Violence
Explicit sexual Content

Our suggestions if you enjoyed Caledonian Road by Andrew O'Hagan

Capital

John Lanchester

Ordinary Thunderstorms

William Boyd

Outline

Rachel Cusk

Yellow Dog

Martin Amis

Saturday

Ian McEwan

In Our Mad and Furious City

Guy Gunaratne

The Liar's Dictionary

Eley Williams

Hot Stew

Fiona Mozley

Who is Rich?

Matthew Klam

The Bee Sting

Paul Murray