Ridley Road By Jo Bloom

[amazon_link id=”0297608282″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’Ridley Road’ is Jo Bloom’s debut novel.

Summer, 1962. Twenty-year-old Vivien Epstein, a Jewish hairdresser from Manchester, arrives in London following the death of her father. Alone in the world, she is looking for Jack Fox, a man she had a brief but intense love affair with some months before. But the only address she has for him leads to a dead end. Determined to make a new life for herself, Vivien convinces Barb, the owner of Oscar’s hair salon in Soho, to give her a job. There, she is swept into the colourful world of the sixties – the music and the fashions, the coffee bars and clubs. But still, Vivien cannot forget Jack. As she continues to look for him, her search leads her into the fight against resurgent fascism in East London, where members of the Jewish community are taking to the streets, in and around Ridley Road. Then one day Vivien finally spots Jack, but her joy is short-lived when she discovers his secret . . .

I really enjoyed this book, set against the backdrop of a bustling and cosmopolitan London in the 1960’s, it has an interesting story that really did grip my attention about a young jewish woman following her dream but getting caught up in the dark world of fascism.

When Vivien’s father passes away, she decides to follow her dream and leave Manchester for the bright lights of London to become a hairdresser at a top salon, but as well as hoping to become a hairdresser, she has her fingers crossed that she will run into Jack Fox, a young man she had an affair with a few months ago, but the address she has for him is out of date and she finds herself in a new city, jobless with a broken heart. But refuge comes when she finds work in Oscar’s and forms a strong friendship with the other hairdressers who kindly take her under their wing and look out for her. But one day she spots Jack at an anti fascism rally and she’s distraught to discover that he’s not the person that he lead her to believe. And so begins a story of secrets, hatred and a young woman trying to adapt to a new life in a busy city.

The story flows between the three main characters, Vivien, Jack and his hidden life and Stevie, the unfortunate underdog of the story, who has a crush on Vivien. A sensitive boy who longs to be in a band, he struggles with life and the fact that Vivien rebuffs him.

The story is well written and most definitely well researched, even though it is a work of fiction, it is based on actual events and the main characters of the extremists groups are real. The rally scenes make for vivid and disturbing reading and the hatred between the groups literally jumps from the page. Tackling the harsh of issues of fascism and racism, the story is quite dark and unsettling in parts and this is probably why it makes for such gripping reading.

With a sophisticated and striking cover that showcases the 1960’s perfectly, ‘Ridley Road’ is a powerful and fascinating debut that makes for a thrilling love story.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”0297608282″ target=”_blank” ]Ridley Road from Amazon [/amazon_link] and is available to buy from good bookshops.