A review by petekeeley
The Handsworth Times by Sharon Duggal

5.0

Absolutely loved this book and breezed through it in a day and a half, completely engrossed in it the whole time. Set in Birmingham in 1981, during Thatcher's reign of evil, with inner city riots and NF marches going on. It is the story of a working class Indian family, beset by an awful tragedy, and of how they cope (or don't cope), with loss, trauma, unemployment, racism, class and ultimately it is a story about community. The characters are just wonderful, and all totally believable and real. The writing is sublime, and written with such a deftness of touch, and such sympathy for the characters. There are a lot of parallels with what was happening in 1981 in this book, and with what is happening in society today. Another absolute winner from Bluemoose Publishing, who just never let me down. Am looking forward to the author's next book excitedly (out in a couple of months).