Jo Bloom

Permission by Jo Bloom asks an interesting question: can your marriage survive if you're both sleeping with other people? The concept of an open marriage was what drew me to this book as I was fascinated by the effect it would have on the characters.

Fay and Steve are very happily married. They have two children, grown-up Billy and six year old Rose, a much-longed for second baby. Their life is good but Fay brings up the question of an open marriage and Steve reluctantly agrees to give it a go. It's fair to say that Steve is more than happy with what he has with Fay whereas Fay, although similarly happy, is also curious and wants to experiment more. She sells it as something that might give their marriage a bit of a kick. I think it's more a case of being careful what you wish for and having permission to do something doesn't necessarily mean you should do it. I guess it could be termed as a mid-life crisis for Fay, a point when she is on the precipice between having the opportunity to live in a different way and have new experiences, or simply carrying on as she has been doing ad infinitum.

This is a well-written and thought-provoking book. It doesn't just tackle the ins and outs of a marriage but also looks at how what's going on in the home can affect children. No matter how well you think you are hiding things the underlying effects are hard to disguise and the secondary storyline about Rose illustrates that very well.

I liked Steve much more than I liked Fay. I recognise that Fay is a complex character and I felt that maybe there was more underneath the surface with her. Steve also has his demons but he felt like a much easier-going character. The characterisations are excellent and complicated and there's an intensity to the writing that made for quite compelling reading, albeit with the sense of watching a car crash about to happen in slow motion.

An honest and sensitive portrayal of a modern marriage with scenarios to make you ponder.… (mehr)

Jo Bloom's first novel puts a fictional spin on a dark chapter of the swinging sixties - the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement and the riots between the group, formed by Colin Jordan, and Jewish demonstrators. Despite a lightweight 'chick lit' feel - young hairdresser Vivien Epstein uproots from Manchester to London after her father's death in search of a new life with her mysterious boyfriend Jack Fox, and instantly finds a safe home, good job, supportive friends and a devoted swain - the story is well-paced and, on the factual side, informative if slightly (but perhaps necessarily) clunky in places. Jack is one of the 'paid informers' that the anti-fascist 62 Group actually sent into the ranks of Jordan's ugly cabal, and the effects of keeping up a front are very believable. Stevie, the young lad who develops a crush on Vivien and pays the price for interfering, is less so. A quick but eye-opening read.… (mehr)

When I first saw the cover of Ridley Road, I was hooked. I loved how the title looked like a street sign and the clearly 1960s photograph. So it sounded like a good choice to start my Audible membership with. Harriet Carmichael does a great job of narrating the story and she manages to make each character sound slightly different. The story, however, was a little jumpy for me. The content, covering the rise of fascist movement in London in 1960s, was great. I knew nothing about that period and I find that reading fiction based around actual events improves my knowledge greatly. But the story moves from being about Vivien, a hairdresser who moves to London after her father dies to look for a lost love to a political thriller. Poor old Vivien, cutting away happily, gets pushed into the corner while Jack, her lover takes over. Jack is a newspaper man who has gone undercover to investigate the fascist group that is planning to make a comeback. They’re vandalising Jewish businesses and places of worship and printing out propaganda. As Jack gets more involved with Vivien (who is Jewish), he struggles to maintain his cover and composure. Will he make it out to file his story?

I think the first half of this book is dramatically different to the second part, which is why it didn’t work so well for me. Vivien’s story is a romance/coming of age one, with her trying to find Jack in London and making new friends. She’s also trying to avoid the attentions of Stevie, a boy who thinks she’s just great. I went from feeling sorry for Stevie with his slave like devotion to Vivien to just being annoyed when he was around. He’s rather immature with a knack for getting in trouble. Plus the way he followed Vivien and Jack around town was more stalker-ish than cute. When Jack makes his reappearance, things move to being from his point of view. We hear more about the things he’s involved and the danger he’s facing. This part had more of a thriller feel and less of the charm of Vivien’s story. I think if I’d been more prepared that the story was going to change tone dramatically, I would have enjoyed things more.

As Vivien reappears in what is now Jack’s story, it’s obvious that this young lady from Manchester has grown up. Gone is her naivety, replaced with a composure and grace to help the man she loves. She’s also calm in the face of a radical group trying to destroy her faith. Jack too undergoes a revelation as tensions between the fascists and anti-fascists heat up. He realises that he isn’t Superman and that is what brings he and Vivien even closer.

While the history was fascinating for me, the change in pace and focus in this book didn’t work overly well for me. I would be interested to read more by Jo Bloom, as she has a great ability to bring history to life.

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