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A Blues for Shindig
 
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A Blues for Shindig (Paperback)

by Mo Foster (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: PaperBooks Publishing (1 Jun 2006)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0955109426
  • ISBN-13: 978-0955109423
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 406,164 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review
A fantastically gritty read - unputdownable! - Critical Mass

Product Description
Shindig didn't know it but her reputation with the boys of Soho had been made that day. It was one of those occasions when time had gone into free fall, everyone watched as he arced gracefully through the air and fell to the floor. He was quickly dispatched out into the courtyard. Sharks would discover him soon. The Rendezvous Club is a squalid little gaff off a slippery courtyard. Here, you'll always find a gathering of the 'boys' of Soho. These are men's men; mostly one syllable names: Vic, Stan or Reg, and definitely not how you would expect gangsters to look - no Bogarts or Greenstreets here. From the 'meat rack' in the Dilly to Joe Lyons Corner House at Coventry Street or the Sunset Club on Carnaby Street, it is startling how these places fit in and complement deviant life and villainy. Soho, in the 1950s, was a centre for misfits and petty criminals. Surrounded by this unusual brew of characters, Shindig seems to fit right in. That is until things change for the bosses up west and the powers look to be shifting in Soho's underworld...Jake Arnott meets Nell Dunn in this gritty accolade to Soho and to deviants of every ilk. "Critical Mass" says: A fantastically gritty read - unputdownable!

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5 Reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A journey to another world, 16 Jul 2006
By Voyager (Andover) - See all my reviews
Soho in the 1950's. Shindig is 19 and barmaid of an illegal drinking club, popular with the sort of scruffy gangster who would never make Hollywood. Her spare time is taken up with sex, drugs and general dabbling on the wrong side of the law. Very streetwise is Shindig - or so she thinks until she finds out there are bigger games being played in Soho and she has become one of the cards.

This is a journey to another world, brought vividly to life with a sure sense of place and atmosphere, and peopled by a cast of characters that would last many writers half a dozen books at least. And what a guide Shindig makes - warm, wryly humorous, subversive, eternally curious and touchingly naive.

Some books are good, some books are different. This is one that is good and different. Highly recommended.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars funny, fascinating, devastating and life affirming - a must!, 20 Jul 2006
By J. Southampton - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I have just finished this new book and enjoyed it alot. A must for anyone who has known or wants to know what it is like to be young and alone in London. It stayed with me when I wasn't reading it and caused me to review my own life like a good book can. I was racing towards the end and got there wanting either to reread this book or another by the same author. It was funny, fascinating, devastating and life affirming all at once.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars No blandishments for Ms Shindig, 15 Jul 2006
By Tessa Warburg - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
A BLUES FOR SHINDIG, an unsentimental look at London in the 1950s, is refreshingly forthright. The novel charts a year in the life of nineteen-year-old Mary, better known as Shindig after a momentous encounter with a fresh client in the seedy club where she works. Shindig topples him off his bar stool and, with this one swift move, earns herself the respect of her boss Tiger. Words spreads throughout Soho, and her reputation is made.
The dialogue is brilliant, recreating the street language of the time. But that's not all; the whole book is original and entertaining, not a cliche to be found on a single page. I loved Shindig, resourceful and spunky, as well as another young girl, Frantic. Then there's Shindig's landlady, Vera, probably in her forties but considered ancient, and Shindig's black American love, Berry. The villains, though clearly villainous, seem curiously gentlemanly by modern standards.
Reactions to gays and blacks give another fascinating insight into the times when it was illegal to be gay and racism was not only rife but considered sporting. Our society may have become more tolerant but, in my view, it's also a good deal less honest and decidedly less supportive.
A BLUES FOR SHINDIG is a great read. Don't miss it.
Tessa Warburg
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Shindig - a cool and refreshing read
Mo Foster's 'A Blues For Shindig' is a must read. Refreshingly original and written with an ascerbic wit, Foster's portrayal of Soho's underworld of the fifties is a joy to read... Read more
Published on 29 Nov 2006 by Kate Totnes

5.0 out of 5 stars 50s Eye-opener
My teens in the fifties were nothing like Shindig's. While I was going to Guides, playing tennis and doing Scottish dances, young girls in Soho were doing sex, drugs and jazz and... Read more
Published on 26 Jun 2006 by Ms. K. M. Read

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