Book description
In 1882, David Wildeblood, a 21-year-old from rural Norfolk, arrives
in London to start work at the offices of a famous man. As an
'inspector' for Henry Marchmont's hugely successful weekly The
Labouring Classes of London, his job is to investigate the
notorious slum of Somers Town, near the new St Pancras Station,
recording house by house the number of inhabitants, their occupations
and standard of living. By mapping the streets in this way, Marchmont
intends to show the world the stark realities of poverty in its
greatest city.
Befriended by Jo, a young coster, and his sister Roma, David comes
to learn the slang of the hawkers and traders, sharpers and
scavengers, magsmen and mobsmen, who throng the teeming byways of
Somers Town. It is the place of a Darwinian struggle for survival. And
the deeper he penetrates the everyday squalor and destitution the more
appalled he is by mounting evidence that someone is making a profit
from people's suffering.
A dinner at the Kensington home of his godfather Sir Martin Elder
introduces him to Kitty, Elder's only daughter, and to a cabal of
prominent citizens who have been plotting a radical solution to the
problem of London's poor. David belatedly realises that a conspiracy
is afoot. Passionate but reckless in his urge to uncover it he finds
his life in danger, sustained only by the faithfulness of a friend
and, ultimately, the love of a woman.
In The Streets Anthony Quinn reconstructs an unforgettable
picture of Victorian London, encompassing the extremes of privilege
and privation, from the baronial mansions of the rich to the 'whited
tombs' of the slums. With shocking poignancy and pin-sharp detail he
brings to life a world of terrible degradation, yet one redeemed by
dark comedy, profound fellow-feeling and the enduring possibility of love.
Anthony Quinn was born in Liverpool in 1964. Since 1998 he has been
the film critic of the
Independent.
His first novel,
The Rescue Man
, won the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award in 2009. His second
novel,
Half of the Human Race,
was published in 2011.
