Hot Stew
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST ELMET
“Stunningly clever . . . A deliciously spicy stew indeed.” —Entertainment Weekly
“A story about money and power, love and art, sex work and gentrification . . . Enjoyable and impressive on every page.” —USA Today
In the middle of the bustle of London’s Soho, among the theaters and sex shops and pubs, there sits a building. It isn’t particularly assuming, but its location is prime, and Agatha Howard, a millionaire with a fortune of mysterious provenance, has decided it’s the perfect spot to put up luxury condos. First, though, she has to kick out all the tenants. And Precious and Tabitha, two of the women who live and work in a brothel housed in the building, are determined not to go quietly. A colorful assortment of other characters also find themselves caught up in the fate of this property: Robert, a one-time member of a far-right group and enforcer for Agatha’s father; Bastian, a rich and dissatisfied party boy who pines for an ex-girlfriend; Jackie, a policewoman intent on making London a safer place for all women; and Cheryl, one of the many homeless people who occupy the basement. As their lives converge, surprising hidden connections are revealed, shadowy pasts are uncovered, and the fight over the property boils over into a hot stew.
Entertaining, sharply funny, and dazzlingly accomplished, Hot Stew confronts questions about wealth and inheritance, gender and power, and the things women must do to survive in an unjust world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mozley leaves the Yorkshire countryside of her Booker-shortlisted Elmet for the gritty streets of London in this lively contemporary Dickensian outing set in a Soho brothel. Wealthy, ruthless developer Agatha has her gaze fixed on the Aphra Behn, an apartment building inhabited largely by sex workers. Among them are Precious and Tabitha, who organize the other women to weigh their options after they're slapped by Agatha with an exorbitant rent hike; eventually, they go to the press. Meanwhile, a policewoman is dubiously assigned to investigate sex trafficking at the Aphra Behn by her commanding officer, manipulated by Agatha after a tête-à-tête. Of greater concern to the author than the fate of the building and its residents, though, are the social problems of poverty, addiction, and rising gentrification, which she roundly illustrates through depictions of the myriad men who frequent the brothel (among them an aspiring actor who plays a pimp in a stage play), and the neighborhood's homeless population and crew of drug addicts. Unfortunately, the main characters are often flatly reported and fail to leave a deep impression (on Precious: "For her, it is just a job. She does it for the money. She doesn't much like it or enjoy it but she didn't much enjoy her previous employment either"). Still, Mozley's ambition and vision make this a worthy effort.
