Salaam Brick Lane - Tapa dura

'Charming, brilliant, affectionate and quietly impassioned ... he lets the stories speak for themselves ... [He has a] deft way with dialogue ... a wonderful book ... balanced, humane and life-affirming. I hope it sells out faster than cases of Chalky's "Coat de Roen"' -- Kevin Rushby, Guardian 20050416 'Tarquin Hall is right at the heart of what he writes about ... Hall's new friends spring brilliantly to life off the page ... it's hard to imagine a more moving or more telling record of lives on the edge' -- Caroline Gascoigne, Sunday Times 20050417 'What started out as a series of entertaining character sketches turns into an instructive investigation of "Englishness" ... While Hall does not sidestep the problems raised by immigration, his forthright and funny book is a timely reminder of the revitalising effect "foreigners" have had on the mongrel race that proudly describes itself as "the English".' -- Peter Parker, Daily Telegraph 20050416 'I was absolutely riveted. It's funny, enlightening and very moving - but moving in a quiet, understated, English way, without any mawkish sentimentality. It has given me lots of new insights into the complexities and nuances of 'acculturation', and I'm recommending it to all my friends just because it's such a good read.' -- Kate Fox, author of Watching the English 20041201 'He has a fine ear for the myriad speech patterns of the East End's varied inhabitants ... pertinent and unusually insightful views on the whole "illegal immigrant" issue ... gripping' -- Daily Mail 20050422 'In this entertaining account of a year living on Brick Lane in London's East End, Hall cannily plays the bewildered public schoolboy to a range of different characters.' -- Times Literary Supplement 20050701 'Such a light, playful book and yet with a compelling tow which takes you into the myriad realities of life in the East End of London.' -- Yasmin Alibhai-Brown 20050225 'Fascinating and funny' -- Sunday Times 20050710 'He fleshes out figures that are usually little more than symbols for political viewpoints, and the result is a Dickensian tale of the modern underclass that serves as an answer to negative immigration issues' -- Guardian 20050422 'A thought-provoking read ... fascinating insights into fractured lives. And Hall's affectionate portrayals of eccentric acquaintances enhance this touching portrait no end' -- Metro 20050413 'Tender and harrowing' -- The Times 20050326 'He brings a sharp eye and a dry humour to his descriptions' -- Anthony Sattin, Sunday Times 20051127 'Hall has produced an inclusive, insider's portrait of Brick Lane...rich and humane enough to hold its own' - Laurence Phelan -- Independent on Sunday 20060423 'Just like a Dickens novel, Salaam Brick Lane features comic characters, tear-jerking melodrama, plenty of roguery and an overarching romantic plot in which a plucky young couple overcome familial disapproval' - John Dugdale -- Guardian 20060422 'This is an involving and rather heartening book full of carefully observed characters...Tarquin...is superb on multiculturalism' - Phil Baker -- The Sunday Times 20060416 'A unique take on the tales of asylum seekers, Bangladeshi families fearing a loss of culture and a search for the real East Enders who, it turns out ironically, are simply immigrants from years gone by.' -- Derby Evening Telegraph, Simon Burch 20060520 'A gem of a book that reveals a hidden world lying right on our doorstep. As the stories unfold, so does our appreciation for Tarquin Hall's acute eye and for the gentle power of his narrative' -- Saira Shah, writer and broadcaster 20060520 'Salaam Brick Lane is a compelling journey of discovery by an outsider in his own city and offers an explicit glimpse of this quarter of London' -- Traveller 20050601

After ten years living abroad, Tarquin Hall wanted to return to his native London. Lured by his nostalgia for a leafy suburb childhood spent in south-west London, he returned with his Indian-born, American fiancee in tow. Priced out of the housing market, they found themselves living not in a townhouse, oozing Victorian charm, but in a squalid attic above a Bangladeshi sweatshop on London's Brick Lane. A grimy skylight provided the only window on their new world: a filthy, noisy street where drug dealers and prostitutes peddled their wares and tramps urinated on the pavements. At night, traffic lights lit up the ceiling and police sirens wailed into the early hours. Yet, as Hall got to know Brick Lane, he discovered beneath its unlovely surface an inner world where immigrants and asylum seekers struggle to better themselves and dream of escape. He met the last of the East End Jews who, in their lifetimes, have watched their community slowly vanish, and he befriended some of the tens of thousands of Bangladeshis and asylum seekers who have replaced them. Salaam Brick Lane is a journey of discovery by an outsider in his own native city. It offers an explicit glimpse of the underbelly of London's most infamous quarter -- the real-life world of Monica Ali's bestselling novel.