Six-year-old Joe is a curious little boy who asks many questions and who has a vivid imagination. Joe is living with his mother in 1950s East End London, where he is always surrounded by hard-working people.
Reason for Reading: I love early 20th century British lit. and I'm enchanted by the entire line of The Bloomsbury Group reprints.
This is not a children's novel, but it is written mostly from a child's perspective, and while it is a gentle story it is neither tender nor nostalgic. A 6-year-old boy growing up in Whitechapel before WW2, in the Jewish community.
I'm not how I came across this book but it was a perfect size for my handbag!
The story follows six year old Joe who is living in the East End of London with his Mother.
I can still hear these people talk; the characters are that real. It's a street in London, but it could be a street in NYC in the middle of the last century.
Two and a half stars, since two is kind of mean and three is, well, perhaps a bit fulsome. Because really, this book was disappointing.
I really liked this book and am excited to read more from Wolf Mankowitz. I found myself laughing to myself and wishing I had a fancy steam press too.
If you like light novels from the early twentieth century, try out the books in The Bloomsbury Group (published, of course, by Bloomsbury). Not only are they well-selected, but the design is adorable!
A charming little story of life in the Jewish East End, and an excellent companion piece to Litvinoff's Journey Through A Small Planet. That these familiar places - Brick Lane and Whitechapel and Stepney and Mile End - have changed out of all recognition is testament to the harsh passage of time.
