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'Haunting and intensely readable, this is something between a thriller and a ghost story' Lady Antonia Fraser Click here for further review coverage
Untold Story will be published by
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‘Young, old, male, female, Portuguese, English, Monica Ali’s portrayal of character is consistently convincing. The book [Alentejo Blue] has a wide emotional range; she does pathos, bitterness, joy, cynicism, tenderness, loss, regret. Our sympathies are constantly aroused, we are given tantalising glimpses into the inner worlds of these richly varied people.’ ‘Monica Ali’s craftsmanship is superb and her descriptions [in Alentejo Blue] are rich with quirky, sad, funny and lovely details…The beauty of her writing gives Ali a starring role in this literary generation.’ ‘Monica Ali views the inhabitants of her Mamarrosa with a warm and sympathetic eye, everyone has a vivid life on the page. It is also part of Ali’s gift that she never allows the reader to come to easy conclusions. The village in Alentejo Blue is no rural idyll – but neither is it bereft of pleasure or culture. The same compassionate respect for complexity governs her creation of character. As a novelist, ‘The kitchen of the title is the Imperial Hotel in central London and Monica Ali’s dazzling accounts of its manic goings-on [in In the Kitchen] make Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential seem as genteel as Fanny Craddock.’ ‘All the ingredients for a sizzling tale are present [in In the Kitchen]: A sudden death that may or may not be accidental. A middle-age chef on the verge of a breakdown. Sexual obsession. An illicit affair. A nefarious plot involving human smuggling…Ted’s bewilderment about Britain’s loss of its manufacturing base and its consumerist culture, feels downright prescient in the face of the last year’s global meltdown…Monica Ali nails the clash of cultures between the British and Pakistani immigrants.’ ‘[In the Kitchen] is a book about what it means to live in ‘Absolutely modern in its sharply observed representation of a complex and fragmented society, this a novel replete with old-fashioned virtues…Monica Ali’s use of language is as versatile as her imagination. She can do lyrical description. She can do narrative of compelling tension and brevity. She can be sardonic about her character’s posturing and tender about their griefs. ‘Intensely gripping and involving…Monica Ali’s Brick Lane is a great achievement of the subtlest storytelling.’ ‘Brick Lane is deeply rewarding…One feels the enabling weight of the 19th century, of a history of novels about people cut off from their origins, adrift in Europe’s |
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