Books
by Gillian Slovo
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10 Days |
Like her play* the novel is based on the London riots - the ripple effect of the police's mishandling of a black boy's behaviour on families, a soon to be demolished housing estate, and further afield. Plus an undercover cop gone AWOL. The tension is exaggerated by an unbearable heat wave. The power play between politicians and police about public order is interesting but those involved are too much like caricatures and perhaps thus detract from the essential tragedy.
*The Riots - produced at the Tricycle Theatre, London, in November 2011.
(Christine Miller - bwl 81 Summer 2016) |
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Black Orchids |
It begins romantically in post-war Ceylon when Evelyn falls in love with and marries a rich, young Sinhalese, but things change when they settle in England and face the 1950s' prejudice against mixed-race families. Slovo beautifully captures the attitudes of the time, the gradual disintegration of a marriage and the struggles of the children to feel at home in their skin and to forgive the failures, lies and ultimately the suffocating love of their parents.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 55 Winter 2010) |
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Ice Road |
Set in 1930s Russia and culminating in the German siege of Leningrad, the death of Kirov - once Stalin's favourite - leads to the beginning of those monumental purges which affected the lives of everyone from the humblest to the most powerful. This is a complex novel whose leading characters refuse to be crushed by the terrible events unfolding around them, though not all of them survive. Slovo is a brilliant, evocative and uplifting writer.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 25 August 2004) |
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