Street

Full of colour and charm . . . brimming with wit and optimism . . . wonderfully perceptive.' The Independent In this mesmerising novel Biyi Bandele recreates the unique atmosphere of a multiracial community in contemporary Britain. The Street is populated with a series of amazing characters - Midé the bookseller, who moonlights as a stand-up comedian; the Heckler, who, outside the tube station, wittily taunts public preachers; his cousin, Dada, who writes for a magazine for 'kooks, nuts, schizoids and Meshuggenahs'; and Haifa Kampana, who stalks women he loves. Using these characters, Bandele creates the backdrop against which he positions the painter, Nehushta, and explores her restored relationship with her father, Ossie Jones, who has awakened from a fifteen-year coma. Bandele's blend of humour, sentimentality and the fantastic is an invigorating literary exploration of diasporic reality in contemporary Britain