Siphonophore

Mukesh Agarwal sits alone in the Black Eagle pub unaware that a riot is brewing or that Billy, his youngest son, is still out on his bike…. A mile away in the family home in Church Street, Anila, the youngest of the three Agarwal girls, is reading Smash Hits and listening to Radio One as she sprawls across the bottom bunk unaware of the tragic loss that is about to hit the family…. It is 1981, factories are closing, unemployment is high, the NF are marching and the neglected inner cities are ablaze as riots breakout across Thatcher’s fractured Britain. The Agarwals are facing their own personal nightmare but their pain is eased by family, friendships and a community that refuses to disappear. THE HANDSWORTH TIMES is abook about loss, friendship and working together because there is such a thing as society.

Hull, 1998. Unemployed, single and broke. These chains are what eighteen-year-old Ginger is determined to break free from, away from his indifferent parents and toward the ever-elusive achievement of a girlfriend. Life is monotonous to the point of tears – until the chance acquisition of a gold ring unbalances Ginger’s whole world.

Suddenly Ginger finds himself caught up with violence and tinpot crime, betrayed by his best friend and escaping from local villains desperate to reclaim their property. An encounter with a middle class ‘daddy’s girl’, hitching a ride for a little excitement, holds promise – but when her own questionable past is thrown into the light, their situation worsens and the frying pan erupts into the fire. With their lives at risk, they must hatch a plan to turn the tables on their enemies and dare to play the criminals at their own game. A hilarious tale of kidnapping, bad sex and self-discovery.

Malka Sabbatto is a young woman who flees the confines of her traditional family in Jerusalem, followed by Moshe, a Russian immigrant and her father’s top student. After falling in with a sinister cult in Safed she escapes to Jaffa, where she starts to build a new life under the wing of an Arab chef. When she feels she has finally found contentment, a family tragedy forces her to return to Jerusalem. RAISING SPARKS reveals the hidden worlds, shared histories and unknown stories of the modern Middle East.