London Belongs to Me (Penguin Modern Classics)

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I’m not a Londoner; I grew up mostly in the North of England and spent some time in the Potteries (Stoke-on-Trent. Patricia Roc was originally cast in the female lead, but says she pulled out because she did not want to keep playing Cockney roles. Ted, Mr Josser’s married son, personifies mediocre respectability: on becoming manager of the Co-op hardware department – one of Orwell’s ‘five-to-ten-pound-a-weekers’ – he thinks his six pound five a week at thirty-four is as good as it gets (Doris gets four as a typist and Josser Senior two for his pension). On the basis of this book, I would compare Norman Collins favourably with Charles Dickens in his ability to observe and comment on characters and situations, with subtle underlying humour (although I would rate Collins far more readable than Dickens). Here we have a huge, rambling, ramshackle t

The second world war looms as each of the varied and memorable characters contend with their own lives and preoccupations. Ed Glinert in his introduction makes a sort of pre-emptive disclaimer for the novel (“simply entertainment … no rival to Graham Greene or Evelyn Waugh”) – but who wants to read a 700-page novel by Graham Greene? It is the perfect habitat for retired clerks, aspiring typists, faded actresses, failed dairy managers and self-sufficient (but only just) widows of property. There is crime, - a central crime, and we know who did it, - there are romances, some of which are doomed to fail, others of which are more hopeful - there is seediness, there is deception, class-consciousness, socialism and fascism on the streets, penury, near-penury, greed - and oodles of affection for London itself, for ordinary people living ordinary lives, and displaying all the wonderful combination of nobility, generosity and mean-mindedness which we all do, all-mashed up together.Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin. It’s certainly an extraordinary cover, not least because it says almost nothing of the book: the two figures in the foreground could not be any of the characters in London Belongs to Me. Under the one roof are the Jossers - an clerk on the verge of retirement, his wife and their office worker daughter. Dickens likes to give his characters eccentric mannerisms and quirks and then hammer them into the ground so that every time the character appears his quirk never fails to get a mention. he just hadn’t succeeded yet’ and succumbs to his manifestly romantic, but latent materially conniving, advances – at least until he abandons her (almost on the eve of their wedding) for the wealthier Mrs Jan Byl, one of his clients whom he meets at a séance.

It gives the book – particularly what comes after – necessary focus and structure, which was earlier meandering. London Belongs to Me is a love letter to London and even the most skeptical or cynical readers will surrender to the many delights of this compelling narrative. The centre of the book is a murder trial, which unfolds brilliantly over just 30 pages but feels much more substantial. Through the charlatan Squales, we are introduced to a minor constellation of astralists: the South London Spiritualist Movement and the South London Psychical Society as well their transpontine rivals, the Finsbury Park based North London Spiritualist Club and North Kensington Spiritualist Union. One of my favourites with a cast of characters that creep back into my conscience at the most random of times.

Dulcimer Street remains as the fulcrum of the social and the spatial throughout – but, where, then is Dulcimer Street? You want to know exactly how people lived, what they wore, what they ate, their furniture (furniture takes up more than a few paragraphs), how they ducked and dived and scraped a living in 1938 – look no further. To Doris, Camden Town is a disappointment and ‘appears exactly the same as the Elephant and Castle on her side of the river’.