Hearts and Minds [Import] [Hardcover]

Amanda Craig (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown; First Edition edition (2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316724831
• ISBN-13: 978-0316724838
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,112,564 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Amanda Craig is the author of six novels, the most recent being HEARTS AND MINDS (little,Brown UK, 2009) and is the Children's Books editor of the London Times. Her website is www.amandacraig.com. She lives in London.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Modern day "Oliver Twist", December 15, 2009

By 

JB Kemble (Sacramento CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hearts and Minds (Hardcover)

Are you sick of the saccharine books about London nannies and upper-middle class life? Here is the antidote -- a riveting page-turner of a book that reveals the underbelly of London of today --- featuring a cast of immigrants, minicab drivers, asylum seekers Aussies and toffs. Something like a modern day "Oliver Twist ", it brings compassion but also shines an unsettling, disturbing light on the people who make up modern London. Every tourist to that city should read this book before setting foot on a double-decker bus.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heart Wrenching, May 11, 2010

By 

Nadine (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hearts and Minds (Hardcover)

I could not put this book down! Amanda Craig has a way of writing that pulls you immediately into the lives of each character. I felt responsible in some respect for each life portrayed, knowing that although the story was fictional, the lives dipicted were of a world that many of us choose to ignore. Hearts and Minds is a brillant expose about the harsh reality of immigrants who come to countries with the hopes of a better life. I wouldn't hesitate to buy other books written by Amanda Craig. She is a brilliant writer!

Sharyn Shields

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A contemporary London murder mystery, January 1, 2011

By 

Kiwifunlad (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hearts and Minds (Hardcover)

Set in contemporary London, Amanda Craig first five chapters portrays the lives of five characters who seemingly do not have any connection and it therefore seems like information overload: Polly, a refugee lawyer and solo mother; Ian, a South African school teacher teaching in one of the poorest inner London schools where most of the pupils are from Bangladesh and Somalia; Job, an illegal immigrant from Zimbabwe and mini cab driver; Katie, an American working for the Editor of a Right Wing magazine and Anna, a fifteen year old Lithuanian captive prostitute. Gradually the plot unfolds and the seemingly disparate group of characters become intertwined. Often Craig leaving the reader up in the air at the end of a chapter and then not returning for 2 or 3 chapters. It makes for a page turner but the clumsily contrived tying up of the various events made for a disappointing ending. For the most part Craig's writing was very enjoyable and the cast of characters believable apart from Katie, the 27 year old US American, who seemed to me to be a highly improbable character, although the fact she only becomes attractive when wearing makeup was an endearing twist of Craig's satirical pen.