Customer Reviews

Hearts and Minds

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4 star:		(1)
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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.

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

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.

s novel, which was longlisted for the 2010 Orange Prize, is set in contemporary London, and opens with the discovery of the body of a young unknown woman in a pond in upscale Hampstead Heath. From there we are introduced to the five main characters: Polly, an divorced asylum lawyer, who fiercely struggles to combine her career with motherhood; Job, an educated and literate immigrant from Zimbabwe, who has fled to the capital to avoid the horrors of his homeland; Ian, a white South African teacher in a rundown public school where chaos and violence is a constant threat; Anna, a 15 year old girl who agrees to emigrate to London to become a hotel chambermaid but is forced into sexual slavery; and Katie, a young American who works as the personal assistant for the publisher of the Rambler, a London daily best known for controversy rather than accuracy and good taste.

The five live separate lives of near constant frustration and occasional menace, in a faceless city where the police are indifferent and all except the most wealthy are emotionally abraded and cross. Through them and several minor characters Craig shows us the underside of life in the capital, where illegal immigrants fill the jobs that are beneath the dignity of other Londoners, and live hand to mouth in a daily battle to earn enough to survive, while steering clear of the constant threat of discovery by authorities and deportation back to their home countries. A series of unrelated and increasing threats affect each of the characters, and the author expertly weaves their stories and lives together in a tale that is both believable and compelling.

"Hearts and Minds" is a superb novel which gives the reader a view of the lives of the invisible and voiceless workers of the underground economy of a large city in the context of a gripping story. Highly recommended!

Amanda Craig weaves a rich tapestry of London lives, which seem disconnected, until she pulls in the threads and we find how everyone's life is touched by many people.
Craig's observations of London viewed through so many diverse lives, makes for compelling reading. In one of the worlds most famous cities, and in a country which considers itself so civilised, its underbelly is dark and disturbing.
Even the people who seem altruistic, find themselves at least partially accountable for the difficulties of others. This book explores human rights issues, relationships, and the often Dickensian depths illegal immigrants fall into.
Craig's novel challenges us all, as it connects us to the lives of its characters. I found "Hearts and Minds" compassionate, moving and unputdownable!