London Belongs to Me - Norman Collins
Posted: 21 Sep 2011, 04:21
I had never heard of Collins before I picked this up in my local book store.Originally written in 1945 LBTM is one of the recent Penguin print of ‘Vintage classics’ range. I Had a look at it and thought it could be worth a go.
Good thinking on my part. This is easily my book of the year (and as its only September that’s a bloody bold statement). The setting is a rooming house/lodgings at No.10 Dulcimer Street, Kennington, London. The characters are the occupants of this address. Amongst them the fragile-but-fearsome landlady Mrs. Vizzard, the young rebel without a clue/promising mechanic Percy Boon who see’s London and the world as his for the taking, Connie the ageing nightclub cloakroom attendant, the mysterious Mr. Squales, and (my personal favourites) the brilliant middle-aged couple Mr. and Mrs. Josser.
The first chapter starts on Christmas eve 1938 and describes Mr. Jossers retirement day from the company he has worked for all his life. We are then taken through the intertwining tales of the residents of Dulcimer Street in the lead up to WW2 and the book ends exactly two years later in 1940. Collins envelopes the reader in late 1930’s London, the politics, the architecture, the food, the weather, the fashions, and the humour of what must have been a very strange time to be alive in England’s capital. This is such a well written book that I would recommend it to anybody who likes, er, reading books! Collins humour is razor sharp but he can also nail you with some of the sadness that befalls certain characters. This is an excellent funny, touching, and euphoric book.
As I mentioned earlier I don’t know much about Collins, but he wrote a few books before this one and he was a part of the left-wing publishing house that first published Orwell’s ‘Road to Wigan Pier’, and then went on to work in developing the news side of the early BBC. He wrote with a striking wit and a humanity that makes this book an excellent read.
Good thinking on my part. This is easily my book of the year (and as its only September that’s a bloody bold statement). The setting is a rooming house/lodgings at No.10 Dulcimer Street, Kennington, London. The characters are the occupants of this address. Amongst them the fragile-but-fearsome landlady Mrs. Vizzard, the young rebel without a clue/promising mechanic Percy Boon who see’s London and the world as his for the taking, Connie the ageing nightclub cloakroom attendant, the mysterious Mr. Squales, and (my personal favourites) the brilliant middle-aged couple Mr. and Mrs. Josser.
The first chapter starts on Christmas eve 1938 and describes Mr. Jossers retirement day from the company he has worked for all his life. We are then taken through the intertwining tales of the residents of Dulcimer Street in the lead up to WW2 and the book ends exactly two years later in 1940. Collins envelopes the reader in late 1930’s London, the politics, the architecture, the food, the weather, the fashions, and the humour of what must have been a very strange time to be alive in England’s capital. This is such a well written book that I would recommend it to anybody who likes, er, reading books! Collins humour is razor sharp but he can also nail you with some of the sadness that befalls certain characters. This is an excellent funny, touching, and euphoric book.
As I mentioned earlier I don’t know much about Collins, but he wrote a few books before this one and he was a part of the left-wing publishing house that first published Orwell’s ‘Road to Wigan Pier’, and then went on to work in developing the news side of the early BBC. He wrote with a striking wit and a humanity that makes this book an excellent read.