This engrossing novel captures the changing life of London in the late 1970s. It does this through the tension and suspicion arising from the Irish republican Army’s bombing campaign, police corruption and the febrile atmosphere of strikes as the Labour government of James Callaghan is crumbling, to be replaced by a Conservative one lead by Margaret Thatcher. This mix impinges upon the lives of a cast of characters, whose fates are intertwined and influenced by chance encounters with each other in a delightful story that fully engages the reader. Drawing inspiration from real events, Quinn creates a novel of characters who are wholly believable, but some of whom, do not arouse a lot of sympathy, but are fully rooted in the manner in which people acted and lifestyle of the time.

I have clear (if not universally fond) memories of 1978. I was fifteen and living in what I now recognise was considerable opulence, in a hamlet in the close hinterland of a small provincial town in North Leicestershire. Like many teenagers, I lived in a fairly solipsistic manner, with most of what I needed fairly readily to hand, and living my life in a daze of books and progressive rock.

In Britain at large there was far less of a sense of satisfaction with life. The British economy was struggling, and the Labour government was sinking into crippling inertia. Over the four years since it had secured a parliamentary majority in the second election of 1974, the government had seen its leader resign for health reasons, and, through a series of by-election defeats, its majority had been eroded. As always in any period of economic and political strife, extremist groups had briefly flourished, and the hard right National Front, forerunners of the British National Party, held frequent rallies, which would provoke passionate counterdemonstrations from far left organisations, which inevitably descended into pitched battles in which the police generally came off worse than either faction. Meanwhile, the troubles in Northern Ireland were going through one of their most virulent phases, with bombings … or at least bomb scares … on the mainland becoming increasingly frequent. It is not surprising that such conditions should have seen the meteoric rise of punk rock, with groups like The Clash and The Sex Pistols catching and distilling the zeitgeist of youth disaffection.

Stuck in my bucolic retreat, access to punk music was limited, but I certainly loved what little I could find, and while I never went as far as sporting safety pin earrings or a Mohawk, I spent many hours imagining my self as a committed acolyte of the counterculture. Whenever I look back at those times, it is the punk rock that I recall first. This is deceptive, however – this was also the golden period of disco [I apologise - I realise I shouldn’t conjure such grim thoughts without some sort of warning for the faint of heart], and Abba were at the ghastly peak of their success,

Anthony Quinn captures that atmosphere marvellously in this novel, in which several seemingly discrete threads are effortlessly woven together into a striking tapestry. His characters are compelling: Callum Conlan is an Irish academic from Newry, who has relocated to London where he lectures at London University in early twentieth century literature; Vicky Tress is an ambitious young police constable who, as the book opens, contributes significantly to the arrest of the Notting Dale rapist who has been terrorising women in West London; Freddie Selves is Director of the National Music Hall, and lives high on the hog on his seemingly unlimited expense account: and Hannah Strode is a successful journalist with her own masthead photo above her regular column. Quinn weaves links between their very different lives, while also portraying the gloominess of the times as immediately recognisable news stories unfold in the background.

There are several intricate plotlines that are all brought together deftly, and the story is engaging and very satisfying. ( )

London in the late 1970s is on a knife edge. Jim Callaghan is barely holding on to power with the unions striking everywhere and his rival is a woman, Margaret Thatcher. The IRA bombing campaigns on the mainland are high profile and the police are corrupt. In this maelstrom a disparate set of characters spin in and out of each others lives - the lecturer, the impresario, the policewoman, the journalist - all are part of the events.
Anthony Quinn has written a series of novels which chart modern history over the last 150 years and each offers a superb insight into time and place through engaging and complex characters. Here, it is easy to see where the plots are heading but that doesn't make them any less exciting. The role of sexism in the last seventies is writ large from Fleet Street and the Met to the humble secretary, also the fate of the Irish. It is pitch perfect writing from a true master ( )