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Review
** 'This is a novel written with passion and moral outrage. It is a vivid portrait of a city that is at once familiar and disconcertingly strange' THE TIMES Joan Smith ** 'Rich, Dickensian' SUNDAY TIMES Penny Perrick ** 'She is a humane writer as well a waspish one and it is the plight of London's migrant workers and sink-school pupils with which she is primarily concerned here, and her passion and care are affecting' OBSERVER Lisa O'Kelly ** 'There is much in HEARTS AND MINDS to praise ... The book displays the author's relentless compassion. A large kindness overarches the novel' GUARDIAN Stevie Davies ** 'Throughout, the writing is confident, purposeful, quietly dynamic ... Impressively, the narrative's contained momentum is achieved neither at the expense of humour (which is sharp and almost entirely successful), nor of Craig's characters' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT Stephanie Cross ** 'Her style is immediate and precise, and convincingly dramatic ... Compelling ... a terrific read' INDEPENDENT Yasmin Alibai-Brown ** 'Amanda Craig presents her disparate cast with engaging intelligence' DAILY MAIL Helen Brown ** 'From first to last page, from basement brothel to glitzy garden party, Amanda Craig's new novel, set in, and all about, contemporary London, had me utterly in thrall' JEWISH CHRONICLE Madeleine Kingsley ** 'Full of suspense and drama ... a thoroughly engaging novel which explores themes of immigration, displacement and human connection in 21st century London. Like Dickens' London novels, HEARTS AND MINDS is ambitious in terms of scale ... Craig, like Dickens, achieves a novel which is 'good' in both sense of the term: HEARTS AND MINDS has literary merit as well as an unusual social conscience ... an absorbing novel, a genuinely moving story of city lives striving to connect' MSLEXIA Jude Piesse ** 'Amanda Craig has taken the Victorian novel and brought it magnificently into the 21st century ... it is strong on plot and social awareness. Take these 19th-century trappings and apply them to one of the most controversial issues in our society today - immigration - and you have a riveting, disturbing picture of the way we live now' CAMDEN NEW JOURNAL Ruth Gorb ** 'HEARTS AND MINDS has a real sense of relish in its writing ... It's a rare thing - an absolutely contemporary novel written with brio, buoyant with satire and yet earthed in the traditions of nineteenth century realism' Helen Dunmore ** 'A real triumph' Fay Weldon ** 'It's ambitious, compelling and utterly gripping' Maggie O'Farrell ** 'In this brilliantly observed, richly characterised and startling contemporary novel, Amanda Craig takes figures from the margins of society and places them at the heart of our concerns' Michael Arditti
Review
'This is a novel written with passion and moral outrage. It is a vivid portrait of a city that is at once familiar and disconcertingly strange'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In 'Hearts and Minds' Amanda Craig sets out to show that the comfortable lifestyle enjoyed by many in affluent North London, where the novel is largely set, could not function without those who, for precious little pay, perform those menial tasks we can't manage ourselves. The under-paid au pair, of dubious immigration status, who cares for the children; the 'illegals' who drive the minicabs for the school run. We also meet the teacher in the sink-school, battling apathy and latent, often actual, violence. Finally, the East European girls imported for prostitution, whose vile pimps cater for a large, home-grown clientele.
The narrative skilfully links the five main characters, none of whom knows the others at the outset, gradually establishing their inter-dependence and proving once again that no man - or woman - is an island. Ms Craig lets us into the lives of her five principals and by the end, they have become close friends to whom we say good-bye with regret. There is comedy, high drama, suffering and sadness in this meticulously crafted and profoundly humane novel, along with a simmering anger at the English middle classes who profess liberal sympathies yet grossly exploit those too weak or vulnerable to defend themselves.
The narrative skilfully links the five main characters, none of whom knows the others at the outset, gradually establishing their inter-dependence and proving once again that no man - or woman - is an island. Ms Craig lets us into the lives of her five principals and by the end, they have become close friends to whom we say good-bye with regret. There is comedy, high drama, suffering and sadness in this meticulously crafted and profoundly humane novel, along with a simmering anger at the English middle classes who profess liberal sympathies yet grossly exploit those too weak or vulnerable to defend themselves.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
My heart and mind were moved to tears many times as I read this book.
The book opens with the murder of woman, followed by what appears to be a random stream of events. We're introduced to Polly, a mother of two kids who feels eternally guilty 'even in sleep'. She's divorced, she has a long distance relationship with a man in America, and she's a human rights lawyer who has an illegal immigrant, Iryna running her house. She understands the irony of her position, but never really appreciates what a positive impact Iryna has on her life until something happens. Ian, a teacher who works at the worst school in London, has an accident on a bike. Katie, an editorial assistant, discovers she's working for the boss from hell and that her home environment holds a few shocks. An immigrant taxi driver called Job finds a way to survive by working two jobs. All of these characters are linked and the beauty of Amanda Craig's writing is the believable, seamless way that she achieves this.
It's impossible to read this book without becoming interested in illegal immigrants as human beings, and that's the point of it I think. It tackles the realities of life that many illegal immigrants face. Contrary to popular opinion they do not all get cushy numbers on benefits, if you have a pet, it will probably live a better quality of life than they do. The law isn't always on their side either; it's shocking what happens to Job in this book.
Ian is exposed to this reality every day, as he tries to teach kids who've seen more horror in their young lives than other people can imagine. One day in his English class he asks a boy called Nadif if he has trouble writing. The boy is 'drawing stick soldiers firing guns at figures falling over in a hail of bullets and blood'. When Ian asks if they are animals the boy reveals in sad voice that they are of his family being killed by the soldiers in his village 'like animals'.
How can Ian open these children's hearts and minds? How does he open his own to discover if he is doing what he believes in or what he thinks he 'should' be doing? These are the questions that haunt all the characters.
Anna is girl who has been trafficked to London, she has a brutal introduction to her new country. While her tormentors have closed hearts and minds, hers retain hope. There's a beautifully written passage where she compares her plight to that of a bird in a nest that just made me want to cry every time I read it.
This was a painful, moving, thought-provoking book that is sympathetic to all the characters. It doesn't preach, but it does ask you to look at the world around you with a more open heart and mind.
The book opens with the murder of woman, followed by what appears to be a random stream of events. We're introduced to Polly, a mother of two kids who feels eternally guilty 'even in sleep'. She's divorced, she has a long distance relationship with a man in America, and she's a human rights lawyer who has an illegal immigrant, Iryna running her house. She understands the irony of her position, but never really appreciates what a positive impact Iryna has on her life until something happens. Ian, a teacher who works at the worst school in London, has an accident on a bike. Katie, an editorial assistant, discovers she's working for the boss from hell and that her home environment holds a few shocks. An immigrant taxi driver called Job finds a way to survive by working two jobs. All of these characters are linked and the beauty of Amanda Craig's writing is the believable, seamless way that she achieves this.
It's impossible to read this book without becoming interested in illegal immigrants as human beings, and that's the point of it I think. It tackles the realities of life that many illegal immigrants face. Contrary to popular opinion they do not all get cushy numbers on benefits, if you have a pet, it will probably live a better quality of life than they do. The law isn't always on their side either; it's shocking what happens to Job in this book.
Ian is exposed to this reality every day, as he tries to teach kids who've seen more horror in their young lives than other people can imagine. One day in his English class he asks a boy called Nadif if he has trouble writing. The boy is 'drawing stick soldiers firing guns at figures falling over in a hail of bullets and blood'. When Ian asks if they are animals the boy reveals in sad voice that they are of his family being killed by the soldiers in his village 'like animals'.
How can Ian open these children's hearts and minds? How does he open his own to discover if he is doing what he believes in or what he thinks he 'should' be doing? These are the questions that haunt all the characters.
Anna is girl who has been trafficked to London, she has a brutal introduction to her new country. While her tormentors have closed hearts and minds, hers retain hope. There's a beautifully written passage where she compares her plight to that of a bird in a nest that just made me want to cry every time I read it.
This was a painful, moving, thought-provoking book that is sympathetic to all the characters. It doesn't preach, but it does ask you to look at the world around you with a more open heart and mind.
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Hearts and Minds enthralled me. The over-riding theme is the effect of immigrants, both legal and illegal, on modern-day life and how individual responses to this phenomenon define and challenge different people in different ways. The lives of six characters (five being human, the other London) are intertwined in an uncontrived manner. The five characters hail from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ukraine, USA and England respectively. As a South African, I particularly loved the insight the writer has into subtle aspects of our country. This is unusual as in my experience only South African writers manage to capture these nuances. Even the fact that one character claims, incorrectly, that white people cannot work as teachers in schools in SA because of their colour, it is true that many white people do talk this way. (The facts are that despite affirmative action only 5% of whites are unemployed while 40% of blacks are unemployed).
The other aspect I loved about the characters is that they are so human and so real; Polly is a human rights lawyers and believes fervently in her cause; helping those who deserve asylum and trying to prevent their deportation yet she is not "goody-goody" or perfect; the reader is privy to all her insecurities and also frivolities. Job, the Zimbabwean, is a very good person but he also strays. The outsider view on the English as expressed in different ways by the characters is also very insightful and amusing. London too is a character in this novel; not glorified or prettified but shown as big, bustling, impatient, exclusionary, grimy but also pretty and village-like at times.
The storyline is compelling, I could not put it down but it is by no means one of those formulaic page-turners that I despise. The resolution of each characters' dilemma is neither predictable nor unsatisfying; a difficult balance to strike. The novel deals with human trafficking, racial and religious intolerance/ignorance, crime, institutional callousness and the single mother, all of which are highly relevant to our times. Despite being set in London, there is a universality in that many countries experience these things in different ways. I believe there are readers who, after reading this book, may well re-examine their own responses to `the other'.
The humour that popped up unexpectedly now and then had me laughing out loud. I particularly liked it when Polly, the single mother, said she needed a wife. I often said this to the men at work but had not heard it from anyone else before.
Highly recommended
The other aspect I loved about the characters is that they are so human and so real; Polly is a human rights lawyers and believes fervently in her cause; helping those who deserve asylum and trying to prevent their deportation yet she is not "goody-goody" or perfect; the reader is privy to all her insecurities and also frivolities. Job, the Zimbabwean, is a very good person but he also strays. The outsider view on the English as expressed in different ways by the characters is also very insightful and amusing. London too is a character in this novel; not glorified or prettified but shown as big, bustling, impatient, exclusionary, grimy but also pretty and village-like at times.
The storyline is compelling, I could not put it down but it is by no means one of those formulaic page-turners that I despise. The resolution of each characters' dilemma is neither predictable nor unsatisfying; a difficult balance to strike. The novel deals with human trafficking, racial and religious intolerance/ignorance, crime, institutional callousness and the single mother, all of which are highly relevant to our times. Despite being set in London, there is a universality in that many countries experience these things in different ways. I believe there are readers who, after reading this book, may well re-examine their own responses to `the other'.
The humour that popped up unexpectedly now and then had me laughing out loud. I particularly liked it when Polly, the single mother, said she needed a wife. I often said this to the men at work but had not heard it from anyone else before.
Highly recommended
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Stunning State of the Nation Novel
While much has been made of other State of the Nation novels - John Lanchester's Capital, Sebastian Faulks's A Week in December - to my mind the best of the bunch is Amanda Craig's... Read more
Published 7 days ago by AHM Preston
Fascinating read
The large cast of characters are emotionally linked to each other in a variety of ways; love, hate, envy, passion. Read more
Published 1 month ago by KAT.A
So So
I read Amanda Craig's 'Hearts and Minds' back to back with John Lanchester's 'Capital', and now my mind's a blurr of 2D stereotypes. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Frootle
"...he feels the absence of culture... as if it was a kind of...
The book opens with a murderer getting rid of his victim - a woman. It eventually becomes clear who she was, as the author presents her gallimaufry cast of illegal immigrants,... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Eileen Shaw
Worthy but dissapointing
I'd read a couple of Amanda Craig's earlier novels - A Private Place is particularly good - so decided to give this a try as it seemed to a have a broader sweep than the rather... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Lendrick
Great read - don't be put off by the size!
It's quite a big book but don't be put off by the size as it's actually very quick to read because the text and spacing are big, and most importantly because you want to keep... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Rachel
Totally gripping
I became totally absorbed in this book as soon as I started to read, and could not put it down. I loved it. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Janeymo
Fantastic book
I enjoyed this book right from the first page and read it in no time. It really made me think long after I put it down each time. Read more
Published 4 months ago by catherine123404
Worthy effort, but ...
I wish I'd enjoyed this more. It's a great subject: I think there is a great novel to be written about London at the end of the century and this covers a lot of the ground that... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Robert
Great book
A very good read!
I read this book and loved it, and then came across Sebastian Faukes A week in December which sounds almost identical. Read more
I read this book and loved it, and then came across Sebastian Faukes A week in December which sounds almost identical. Read more
Published 6 months ago by claire
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