Salaam Brick Lane: A Year in the New East End [Paperback]

Tarquin Hall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2006

After 10 years living abroad, Tarquin Hall wanted to return to his native London. Lured by his nostalgia for a leafy suburban childhood spent in south-west London, he returned with his Indian-born, American fiancee in tow. But, 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. 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. Salaam Brick Lane is a journey of discovery by an outsider in his own native city.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Charming, brilliant, affectionate and quietly impassioned ... it manages to be balanced, humane and life-affirming. I hope it sells out faster than cases of Chalky's "Coat de Roen"'. -- 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 'Forthright and funny' -- Daily Telegraph 20050416 'I was absolutely riveted. It's funny, enlightening and very moving ... 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.' -- Daily Mail 20050422 'Entertaining ... Hall cannily plays the bewildered public schoolboy to a range of different characters ... allows us to hear the wonderful patter of the East Enders' -- Times Literary Supplement 20050701 'Fascinating and funny' -- Sunday Times 20050710 '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 '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 '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 20051127 '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

About the Author

Tarquin Hall became an under-age journalist at nineteen and spent the next ten years working in Africa, America, Asia and the Middle East. He is the author of Mercenaries, Missionaries and Misfits, an account of his early adventures; and To the Elephant Graveyard: A True Story of the Hunt for a Man-killing Elephant, a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. He is married to the BBC World Service presenter Anu Anand. They live in East London.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: John Murray (April 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0719565561
• ISBN-13: 978-0719565564
• Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 4.8 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #192,700 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tarquin Hall is the author of the Vish Puri mysteries, set in India. The first in the series, 'The Case of the Missing Servant', was named by the New York Times as a Notable Crime Book and given starred reviews by Kirkus, Library Journal and Booklist. Hall divides his times between London and Delhi with his wife, Indian-born journalist Anu Anand, and their young son.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic insight into the modern East End of London, January 19, 2006

By 

pm (Brookline, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Salaam Brick Lane (Hardcover)

Mr. Hall's work on London's East End is beautifully written and truly makes you feel as if you are a voyeur into a world that few of us have ever experienced. The author shows a genuine sympathy for his neighbors on Brick Lane in the East End and weaves their stories into the broader tapestry of the neighborhood's history as well as that of England as a whole. Without being preachy or condescending, you feel like you know and understand the characters that Mr. Hall met in his time there; the landlord running a sweatshop in his basement, the Indian "auntie" interviewing him on behalf of his future wife's mother, and the list goes on. This is what makes the book such a pleasure and it goes so quickly that in they end you wish Mr. Hall had spent even more time on Brick Lane.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A journalist's clear narrative about a complex world, October 1, 2006

By 

Jean Val Jean (Turkey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Salaam Brick Lane: A Year in the New East End (Paperback)

When confined to observation and its presentation, good journalists tend to make good writers. Hall is one such journalist/writer. His clear and precise style comes very handy when reading about a complex and intricate world of London East End.

His own discovery of East End is told through the lives of people he meets and gets to talk. It's not a distant and cold narrative, though. On the contrary, he is directly involved in the intricate fabric of immigrant society through his American-born Indian fiancee. Yet he manages to limit the account of his personal story to the amount that relates to people he observes.

Overall "Salaam Brick Lane" is an honest and clear account of a short slice through East End.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Salaam Tarquin!, October 20, 2010

By 

Home in Carolina (Cary, NC United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Salaam Brick Lane: A Year in the New East End (Paperback)

Having read Hall's Vish Puri mysteries, I thought I'd try another of his books. This is a tale of movement, mental, physical and emotional. Finding himself in less than ideal financial circumstances, he moves into what is basically considered a slum where he learns that people, no matter what their manner of speaking or appearance may be, are all worthy of consideration, if not admiration. He realizes that he has alternatives while most of the people he comes in contact with do not. Their dogged determination to survive and flourish by whatever means comes to hand is constantly seen everywhere around him. A darker side of the human character also exposes itself in the prejudices inherent and rife in the lowest to highest "classes" of peoples. How can one judge the height of their relative status without pointing out those less worthy?
This man writes with such spot-on ethnicity that you can hear the accents, smell the odors, taste the foods and become immersed in the environs and feel like a neighbor yourself. I loved it.