EIGHT MONTHS ON GHAZZAH STREET: Hilary Mantel

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Though all Mantel's novels illumine societal evils -- be it the British class system in An Experiment in Love, the malevolent interplay between personality and public events in A Place of Greater Safety or colonialism in A Change of Climate -- Eight Months on Ghazzah Street is perhaps Mantel's most overtly political work. Her outrage against a society that virtually imprisons women, mutilates thieves, stones adulterers and disappears over-curious intruders is palpable." - Charlotte Innes, The Los Angeles Times

High art meets soap opera in this beautifully written but high-strung sixth novel from Britain's Hawthornden-winner Mantel. Ralph and Anna Eldred are newlyweds in the mid-1960s, when Ralph is offered Continue reading » A heady spice of significance cleverly spiced with an aura of lurking menace." -- The New York Times Book Review Spectator, 14 May 1988, partily cited at "Eight Months on Ghazzah Street". Complete Review . Retrieved 30 July 2011. and "Eight Months on Ghazzah Street". Harper Collins . Retrieved 30 July 2011.Keep the young lady sober," the businessman advised. "She's got the customs to face, and it's her first time. They go through everything," he told her. "I hope you haven't got anything in your suitcase that you

now; the air was cooling, the sun dipping behind the hill. "What was Jeff Pollard doing, recruiting you? I thought he was trying to persuade everybody what a grand life it was as a freelance consultant?" I think Hilary Mantel is one of the best British writers of my generation. I’ve read all her books, and they are all wonderfully well written, and as you say, so diverse in subject matter. Not long into their stay Andrew tells her about a psychiatrist’s study on the stress on immigrant workers, and you know his words are going to be prophetic: Pollard did say--" He looked at her in slight anxiety. "He said that his only reservation was how you'd settle in. As you've been a working woman."Those familiar with Mantel’s works will know that there is likely to be something nasty in the woodshed. In this case, the woodshed is the top floor. Two other families live in the building. Firstly, there are Raji and Yasmin, a Pakistani couple with a young couple. It is not clear what Raji does but he seems to be some sort of fixer for a government minister. He is often travelling and often out late a night at parties. Frances and Yasmin become friends, more because there is little alternative, though they later become friends with Samira, the wife of the Arab man Frances is not allowed to speak to. Both women try to persuade Frances of the benefits of Islam and the advantages of Saudi Arabia, though not with much success. Frances is understandably concerned with the treatment of women and does not accept the justifications offered by Yasmin and Samira. There is a fourth flat in the building, allegedly empty. However, Frances hears footsteps overhead and also hears a woman sobbing. Andrew says that she is imagining it, though others suggest that the Deputy Minister, who allegedly owns the building, may be using it for a love nest. Frances’ investigations indicate that there is more going on than casual sex. It had this drawing on the cover, a woman, you know." He gestured in the air, describing half circles. "Naked, just a line drawing. Chap said he hadn't noticed."