by Fiona Mozley
First published 2022
Precious and Tabitha live on the top floors of a Soho building that houses rich and poor alike. Their home sits in the heart of London's sleepless district, where tourists wander, sex workers display themselves for prowling clients, and homeless people seek shelter. The women have made their lives in this caustic, humid, insatiable neighborhood where people drift down Wardour Street, peer into Dean, slip into L'Escargot, and navigate alleys filled with drunks and garbage bins before emerging onto bustling avenues crackling with energy and abandon. Now their world faces destruction. Agatha, a billionaire property owner, wants to throw out the women who live and work in the building. She plans expensive restaurants and luxury apartments in their place. Men like Robert, who visit the brothel, will need to find somewhere else to go. People like Cheryl, who sleep in the basement, must discover new hiding spots when night falls. But these women refuse to surrender. Soho belongs to them and they will fight for their territory.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century, urban
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, resistance
Setting: Dean, L'Escargot, London, Soho, Wardour Street
Period: 21st-century
464 pages · Paperback · Alianza Editorial