Silvertown: An East End Family Memoir (Hardcover)

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Amazon.co.uk Review
Silvertown is the story of the life of author Melanie McGrath's grandmother, Jenny Page. As McGrath acknowledges, "It was the kind of life that could have belonged to a thousand women living in the mid years of the twentieth century in the East End of London. Except that it didn't. It belonged to Jenny". McGrath's achievement in the book is to make Jenny's very commonplace, circumscribed life not only believable and moving but also to turn it into a mirror in which the reader can see the changes that the century visited upon the East End. When Jenny was a young girl, the London docks were the biggest port in the world, teeming with life and industry. By the time she was an old woman, all the docks were closed and the old East End was a part of history. Not that Silvertown encourages nostalgia. The descriptions of Jenny's impoverished childhood, of the pulling of all her teeth on her 17th birthday, of the sweatshop where she worked, are enough to make readers throw away any rose-tinted glasses they might be tempted to use. Very occasionally the dialogue in the book lapses into the "Cor, blimey, strike a light, guv'nor" kind of Cockney heard in so many bad British films of the black-and-white era. Largely, both dialogue and narrative combine to provide a remarkably convincing and lively portrait of an ordinary life rescued from oblivion and of a world that's gone.--Nick Rennison

Review
'McGrath tells her story in a novelist's idiom, and the result is extraordinarily powerful and curiously resonant. Like much of the East End, Silvertown today is in the process of an astonishing transformation. The curse on the area has been lifted. But McGrath has beautifully recorded the old Silvertown just before it disappears for ever.' Sinclair McKay, Daily Telegraph

In her preface to this story of her grandparents, Jenny and Len Page, Melanie McGrath gives as her grandmother's two passions her fierce love for the East End and her addiction to sweets - the latter an antidote to all the sourness in her life. McGrath illustrates, through the fortunes of her family, the history of what is now known as the Docklands, from the grinding poverty when Jenny Page was born in Poplar in 1903 up to 1994 when she died at the age of 91. The book is written with a personal perspective of the historical background and the social changes brought about first by the relentless intensity of the bombing in the Second World War, then the gradual disintegration of the docks, and the replacement of the tight narrow streets by the doomed tower blocks. The Silvertown of the title could easily have been Smoketown, Sulphurtown or Sugartown. In fact the name came from Silver's India Rubber and Gutta Percha factory. The author gives a very honest account of Len Page, the spiv with his Cosy Corner Cafe, his smuggling, his scams at the dog meets, and his eventual desertion of Jenny. But this is really the story of Jenny's painful life. The removal of all her teeth at the age of 17 makes grim reading today. She rejects the isolation of the countryside at the start of the war, returning to the East End to find queues and blackout. There follows the evacuation of her children, her daughter's TB and her husband's infidelity. Despite all of this she is determined that the East End is where she wants to be. A compelling book and a tribute to all the hardship that went before the shiny new prosperity of the Docklands. (Kirkus UK)

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13 Reviews 5 star:  (7) 4 star:  (6) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.5 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   10 of 10 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A rare gem of book to be added to your MUST READ list., 7 May 2002 By  sd rogerson "S.D. Rogerson" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    The first thing that struck me about this book was the use of language which raises it head and shoulders above others of a similar genre.For example " Jenny was salty and wilful,as thin and prickly as the reeds that once grew where she was born. Her heart was full of tiny thorns, which chafed but were never big enough to make her bleed. " The second thing to strike me that I was being led through a door into a world and a London about which I knew absolutely nothing and had never dreamt that such a place existed. Perhaps much of this would be familiar to Londoners but as a Scot this book was a revelation, a history lesson intertwined with the story of an ordinary, yet somehow extraordinary life. If I have any criticism of the book it would simply be that it was far too short and passed too quickly from my life. I wanted to know so much more, to ask so many more questions than were answered. And yet that is the mastery of this book, it leaves you wishing there was just one more sweetie in the bag. That Jenny Page had one more sugary treat to offer. It is without doubt one the best books I have read this year. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   7 of 7 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars absorbing and moving, 11 Jun 2002 By A Customer This is a really impressive book. It is the story of a poor, passive young woman, born and living out her life in the East End, unhappily married, and pretty much at the mercy of big national and world events. It is the very ordinariness of the story that makes it so impressive; Jenny Page could be anybody's grandma, and her life story is absorbing. Melanie McGrath wears her research/general learning lightly. I found it impossible to put down, and wanted it to go beyond Jenny's story, to tell us more about Rosie, and, indeed, McGrath herself. Very highly recommended. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   6 of 6 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A family story - A history - A really good read, 8 April 2003 By  R. Wooldridge (Waltham Abbey UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    This review is from: Silvertown: An East End Family Memoir (Paperback) Telling the story of her grandparents the author weaves a marvelous tapestry of east end life, family life and an almost lost area of London. One can only admire the courage and tenacity of her grandmother surviving against poverty, loss, an unfulfilling marriage, and a world war. The style is compelling and clearly written by someone who is happy that the terrible circumstances of poverty are no longer seen in England yet who also realises that there were qualities and characteristics of the people who lived in the East End which are both admirable and in some ways also in danger of being lost. The author has researched the back-ground of so many places and events in the 20th century east end. This is a book that historians will read with relish as much as those of us who are interested in other people's lives. First Rate. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 13 customer reviews...		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 4.0 out of 5 stars silvertownl Large families living in one room by the thames in early 1900s,fascinating,grimey,horrific at times,but loving giving people. Published 3 months ago by A. M. Smith 5.0 out of 5 stars Long forgotten memories, Roused I really enjoyed this book. Very special for me beause as a forty something, I grew up in East London and welcomed reading what it was like long before we moved to Beckton. Read more Published 17 months ago by Flojo Squire 4.0 out of 5 stars A memorable East End portrait This is the story of Ms. McGrath's grandparents, Jenny and Len, who lived in the East End of London in the early 1900's. Read more Published 22 months ago by I LOVE BOOKS 4.0 out of 5 stars Moving and Haunting I found this book a very moving, direct and fascinating account of lives in the East End. There was wonderful characterisation alongside an historical account of the development... Read more Published on 23 Jun 2005 4.0 out of 5 stars Haunting book... you'll read in one session The book depicts a life lived in a london, at the height of british empire, that more closly matches conditions in the worst parts of the third world today. Worth the effort Published on 28 Jul 2004 by charles_e_lee 4.0 out of 5 stars East End life My interest in this book was sparked because I am researching my own family's history in the East End in the 1920s and 1930s. Read more Published on 19 Dec 2003 by Paul Donovan 4.0 out of 5 stars Not so sure... Despite not being able to put this book down, it left me feeling a little unsure about its veracity. Read more Published on 26 Jun 2002 5.0 out of 5 stars Direct and moving - a powerful and convincing account. Unlike many memoirs and biographies, Silvertown leaves the author and the writing process in the background, allowing us to be engaged by this fascinating story without... Read more Published on 6 Jun 2002 by julianspicer@hotmail.com 5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating story, enthrallingly told A wonderful book. The story unfolds with entertaining revelations and entrancing insights. Thoroughly researched and inspiringly empathetic, it tells a tale of lives lived in... Read more Published on 6 Jun 2002 by Christopher Legrove (csl@legro... 5.0 out of 5 stars This is what most works of historical memoir aspire to be. This was a great book to read for an expat. Brit. on his way out of the UK. It is an unsentimental and respectful account of a life that avoids both the saccharine and the vitriol... Read more Published on 18 May 2002 Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews › See all 13 customer reviews...

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