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Fiona Mozley

Hot Stew: the new novel from the Booker-shortlisted author of Elmet: a riotous novel about sex and money in Soho, from the Booker-shortlisted author of Elmet Paperback – 16 Sept. 2021

by Fiona Mozley (Author)

776 ratings

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'Ambitious, clever, brilliant and very funny . . . If Elmet announced the arrival of a bright new voice in British literature, Hot Stew confirms Mozley as a writer of extraordinary empathic gifts' Observer

'A dazzling Dickensian tale . . . In an age when so many novelists of Mozley's generation take refuge in the dystopian, she has reinvigorated large-scale social realism for our times ' Guardian, Book of the Day

'Where the mystical, elemental qualities of Elmet earned it comparisons with Lawrence and Hardy, her second novel is a sprawling urban comedy more likely to recall Ben Jonson or Dickens' Daily Telegraph

'Did you know in Tudor times all the brothels were south of the river in Southwark and it was only much later that they moved up this way to Soho. Stews, they were called then.'

Pungent, steamy, insatiable Soho; the only part of London that truly never sleeps. Tourists dawdling, chancers skulking, addicts shuffling, sex workers strutting, punters prowling, businessmen striding, the homeless and the lost. Down Wardour Street, ducking onto Dean Street, sweeping into L'Escargot, darting down quiet back alleyways, skirting dumpsters and drunks, emerging on to raucous main roads, fizzing with energy and riotous with life.

On a corner, sits a large townhouse, the same as all its neighbours. But this building hosts a teeming throng of rich and poor, full from the basement right up to the roof terrace. Precious and Tabitha call the top floors their home but it's under threat; its billionaire-owner Agatha wants to kick the women out to build expensive restaurants and luxury flats. Men like Robert, who visit the brothel, will have to go elsewhere. Those like Cheryl, who sleep in the basement, will have to find somewhere else to hide after dark. But the women won't go quietly. Soho is their turf and they are ready for a fight.

'A complex mosaic of urban life . . . The Soho Mozley captures with such intensity is not a mere locality. It is a microcosm of swarming humanity' The Times

'At its best, it recalls the kind of capacious, rollicking satires Britain produced in and around the Thatcher era - ambitious, scathing and damn good fun' TLS

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Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

John Murray
Publication date

16 Sept. 2021
Dimensions

12.6 x 2.4 x 19.6 cm
ISBN-10

1529327245
ISBN-13

978-1529327243

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From the Publisher

Product description

Review

Ambitious, clever, brilliant and very funny . . . If Elmet announced the arrival of a bright new voice in British literature, Hot Stew confirms Mozley as a writer of extraordinary empathic gifts ― Observer

A dazzling Dickensian tale ― Guardian, Book of the Day

A complex mosaic of urban life ― The Times

A rollicking tale ― Alex Preston, Observer

There's no evidence of difficult second-novel syndrome here . . . a pure nostalgia trip ― Daily Mail

A gripping novel bursting with life. The second novel by the Booker-shortlisted novelist is a real treat ― Sunday Times

Ambitious, scathing and damn good fun ― TLS

A sprawling novel of London life packed with picaresque characters ― Evening Standard

Where the mystical, elemental qualities of Elmet earned it comparisons with Lawrence and Hardy, her second novel is a sprawling urban comedy more likely to recall Ben Jonson or Dickens ― Daily Telegraph

Mozley's prose is precise, controlled, unshowy, deceptively readable ― Herald

Despite so many characters, the novel doesn't flail, it succeeds as a force . . . to direct so many through a labyrinthine story in just over 300 pages is a kind of mastery ― Irish Times

A lively, pacy read that gives more than a nod to Dickens and is all the better for it ― Sunday Independent Review

A lively, pacy read ― Irish Independent

Mozley's Soho is a village populated by a cast of characters as vivid and memorable as any imagined by Dickens ― Louise Kennedy

Hot Stew reads like a great night out in a city that never sleeps ― Jan Carson

Her new stew is such a steaming, fuming mix of life, lust and London that in the end you feel like you've eaten all of Soho ― Hallgrímur Helgason, author of The Woman at 1000 Degrees

Affecting and bitterly comic prose . . . [and a ] rollicking, heady vivacity ― Big Issue

Book Description

A riotous novel about sex and money set in the electric world of Soho, featuring a group of sex workers, a billionaire Russian oligarch, a nearly over-the-hill actor, junkie vagabonds, a once far-right extremist and a very glamorous borzoi

Publisher ‏ : ‎ John Murray; 1st edition (16 Sept. 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1529327245
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1529327243
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.6 x 2.4 x 19.6 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 209,894 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 3,602 in Crime & Mystery Graphic Novels
- 4,226 in Women's Literary Fiction (Books)
- 26,742 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer reviews:
776 ratings

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776 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the narrative style captivating and vivid. They praise the writing quality as well-crafted, with a prose-like style that captures the spirit of Soho. The characters are described as believable and well-developed, with excellent dialogue. Overall, customers describe the book as an ambitious novel with multiple stories weaving together around a central location.

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Narrative style Writing quality Character development

9 customers mention ‘Narrative style’7 positive2 negative

Customers enjoy the narrative style. They find the characters believable and the scenes vivid in their minds. The plot is complex yet based in reality, with multiple stories weaving together around a central location. The book depicts life in Soho and tackles serious issues while immersing readers in its layers of history.

"...to celebrate its mercurial grand dame of a leading lady, celebrated in all her gritty, disappearing, cherished glory: the wonderful Soho herself." Read more

"...Overall: A novel with a pacey, interesting start and some stand-out analogies, but gritty reality gives way to surreal fantasy and it’s just not Soho." Read more

"...Despite the strangeness they are all believable and the plot that emerges becomes quite gripping...." Read more

"...The characters come alive, the scenes are there in your mind as if you are watching from the sideline...." Read more

6 customers mention ‘Writing quality’6 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the writing quality. They find it well-written, with prose-like style and believable characters. The author captures the spirit of Soho quite well with excellent dialogue that feels stark and no frills.

"...Hot Stew is more like a performance piece, in prose form...." Read more

"...It's also very well written." Read more

"This book is OK, nothing more and nothing less. The author captures the spirit of Soho quite well and most characters are totally believable,..." Read more

"...this writer ‘set the scene’ as if for a play then cut in with excellent dialogue that felt stark and no frills." Read more

4 customers mention ‘Character development’4 positive0 negative

Customers find the characters believable. They appreciate the clever use of space to reveal different characters and their stories. However, some feel the book lacks a strong sense of Soho.

"...Cleverly, each space is used to reveal different characters and a little of their individual stories too...." Read more

"...author captures the spirit of Soho quite well and most characters are totally believable, however what let's the book down is a couple of "really?"..." Read more

"...The characters come alive, the scenes are there in your mind as if you are watching from the sideline...." Read more

"...Sharply written, excellent characters...." Read more

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Jenny Cooper
Great characters, good plot
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 November 2021

Agatha inherited her wealth from her father who was a notorious gangland boss. Part of her inheritance is a property in London’s Soho district, a large building which has been poorly maintained and which contains a brothel, a fairly seedy pub and a basement which is inhabited by homeless people. Agatha is determined to gentrify the building and puts pressure on the inhabitants to leave, unconcerned about whether her methods fall within the scope of the law. Precious and Tabitha are successful sex workers and powerful women. They are equally determined to fight back and protect the premises which they use to provide them with their income.

The novel is populated by colourful and eclectic characters, complete with quirky eccentricities. Many of them are almost stereotypical extremes but I think this is done for a reason - to illustrate the chasms that exist between different layers of society. Agatha in particular seemed more like a cartoon character from a movie, some sort of Cruella de Ville, waltzing in and out of other people’s lives without a care in the world for the devastation she leaves in her wake.
It is written in an engaging, almost conversational style, which is very easy to read. Despite the subject matter it is almost humorous in places and is certainly entertaining. The storytelling is also excellent.
Whilst not intrinsically deep and meaningful, it does reflect very real stratas of society which exist but are not necessarily visible and it highlights various societal issues which are also often hushed up. It is not scared to address issues which can be uncomfortable – class issues, urban development, sexual politics, women’s place in society and their right to have a voice and many more.

Is there a downside? Sort of. There is a fairly bizarre section featuring Cheryl, one of the homeless people (aka Debbie McGee), who descends into some sort of fantastical underworld for a time and I did think this was an unnecessary, and probably unhelpful, diversion from the reality of the rest of the book. Agatha also has a “moment”, a fairly surreal flight of fancy which I didn’t feel really added anything to the storyline. As a result, it is probably a 4.5 which I have rounded down to 4 stars.

I had not come across Fiona Mozley before, but if this novel is typical of her past and future work, I will certainly be reading more from her.

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A love ode to Soho: Hyperreal, nuanced and cinematic
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 March 2022
Verified Purchase
Soho has always seemed to me like the true centre of London. Sure, other places have the shops, museums, monuments and seats of power; main line rail links and access to the Thames — but Soho has London’s soul. And if you’re not inclined to think of cities possessing souls, then purely in terms of measurement it wins — the official centre of London is apparently Charing Cross, and Soho is just a short skip across from there.

During my years living in London it was the place I found most irresistible, and yet, for such a neat little square of a place, I somehow found it impossible to truly master. Even after a decade zipping through it, I could still always get lost there, and often did. It beguiles and defies you, all while drowning you in its layers of history. For me, it rang with personal historical resonance as my mum’s first teaching job was at a tiny school at the edge of Chinatown, on Great Windmill Street. I loved imagining her in the middle of the swinging 60s, scurrying through Soho with a bag of books: a Soho existence a million miles away from mine, and, in turn, miles again from Soho’s next inhabitant. Because all stories are possible here.

The diversity of Soho experiences, the soul, the history…all of these things are wrapped up in Fiona Mozley’s Hot Stew. The novel follows a cast of characters who still cling on to living in the district, despite the shrinking residential sector. There’s Precious, a mum-of-two, political activist and prostitute; Bastian, a privileged trust-fund type with a job at his dad’s company and a wonderful tenderness and sensitivity; Robert, an ex-neo-Nazi thug with a gay best friend, and ‘Debbie McGee’ a silent desiccated waif of a heroin addict who undergoes a remarkable change. There are no stereotypes here, but the characters aren’t exactly realistic either. Mozley draws them with bold sweeps and intricate nuance all at once. They’re larger than life, but all touching and charming in their own way. Hyperreal, almost.

The narrative switches between these points of view in a way that could very well be confusing. Often I find a large cast dilutes the story, or I find myself looking forward to one strand while simply tolerating others. But, in Hot Stew, I wanted more of every character’s perspective. I was a bit amazed and disappointed when my kindle told me I was 78% through and I felt like I was just getting started with everyone.
All these characters are grappling with change, either choosing to or being forced to shake off ingrained habits and expectations. This is true for Soho too. When I went back recently, the place was transformed, glossed up, anonymised. I didn’t dare look to see if my favourite little alcohol shop was still there, selling flavours and combinations that used to only be found in dusty little Soho shops but now take up a full aisle of Tesco. And it’s this force of capitalism erasing Soho’s character that forms the basis of Hot Stew’s plot. A developer is hoping to coerce the resident sex workers out of a bit of prime real estate by upping their rents, but they’re not prepared to go easily.

But while the plot is based in reality, like the complex hyperrealism of the characters, it is far from realism. Hot Stew is more like a performance piece, in prose form. Some chapters are theatrical set pieces, that exist to shine a light on an aspect of character, like a moment when a crown is found. Other parts are pure cinema. I was totally beguiled by this book from the opening scene — so much so that I found myself reading the starting sequence aloud to two different people. It’s a cinematic panning shot you can see in crystal-clear 16:8 as you read, starting with a snail and zooming out to set the scene for the entire novel.
Soho doesn’t get the Hollywood treatment though, there’s no glamour here. I don’t know which director would make the film of this book, but I would watch it in a heartbeat. Mainly to celebrate its mercurial grand dame of a leading lady, celebrated in all her gritty, disappearing, cherished glory: the wonderful Soho herself.

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Jacob Sitter - McClung

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Reviewed in Canada on 12 December 2021
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