Deze serie duikt in de ingewikkelde menselijke relaties en culturele ontmoetingen in Londen in de jaren '50. Het volgt personages uit diverse achtergronden terwijl ze navigeren door de realiteit van immigratie en maatschappelijke veranderingen. De verhalen zijn rijk aan menselijkheid, identiteitsontdekking en de zoektocht naar ergens thuishoren. Lezers zullen de levendige historische sfeer en de diepgaande karakterstudies waarderen.
London, 1957. Victoria station is awash with boat trains discharging hopeful black immigrants into a cold and alien land. And when Montgomery Pew, a newly appointed assistant welfare officer in the Colonial Department, meets Johnny Fortune, recently arrived from Lagos, the meeting of minds and races takes a surprising turn ...
London, 1958—Soho, Notting Hill... a world of smoky jazz clubs, coffee bars and hip hang-outs in the center of London's emerging youth culture. The young and restless—the Absolute Beginners—were creating a world as different as they dared from the traditional image of England's green and pleasant land. Follow our young photographer as he records the moments of a young teenager's life in the capital—sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, the era of the first race riots and the lead-up to the swinging sixties. A twentieth-century cult classic, Absolute Beginners remains the style bible for anyone interested in Mod culture and paints a vivid picture of a changing society with insight and sensitivity.
Frankie Love, new to the business of crime, seems to run his illegal life on strictly fair principles. Meanwhile Edward Justice, recently appointed member of the vice squad, finds his upholding of the law complicated by love for his girl. In London's world of corruption and crime, where does the line between justice and immorality really lie?
Bringing together three of Colin MacInnes' finest works, this exciting omnibus explores a very different side of London life in the 1950s than is usually portrayed. His characters are colourful and real, painting vivid pictures of areas such as Brixton and Notting Hill at this time. The stories of friendship, love and growing up are set against a background of jazz and good times, as London's staid reputation progresses to that of a thriving multiracial capital. A man ahead of his time, MacInnes displayed the realities of 1950s London: an emerging teen culture, black immigration and the glamorisation of crime and criminals with remarkable insight and sympathy.