Vauxhall

"Vauxhall is written in the way that English should be written--clean, swift, and with flashes of lightning."--Bonnie Greer

"A powerful novel . . . Gabadamosi describes with poetic rhythm a child's awakening in a violent, confusing London."--Daily Mail

1970s London: Young Michael runs past the railway arches and terraces of Vauxhall. Reaching the street on which he lives, he witnesses a young girl fall from a window, her sari floating down behind her. Her lifeless body lies crumpled on the ground.

This incident marks the beginning of a period in which Michael's life threatens to unravel. From his sister's taunts to a series of house fires, police harassment, his parents' crumbling marriage and the realization that the council intends to clear out the "slum" he calls home, he learns to navigate his way through an array of obstacles, big and small.

Vauxhall is a tender portrait of a young boy looking for his place in inner city London.

Born in London, Gabriel Gbadamosi is an Irish Nigerian poet, playwright, and essayist. He was AHRC Creative and Performing Arts Fellow at the Pinter Centre, Goldsmiths, and a Judith E. Wilson Fellow for creative writing at Cambridge University. His plays include Shango, Hotel Orpheu, and for radio The Long, Hot Summer of '76 (BBC Radio 3), which won the Richard Imison Award. He has presented Nightwaves on BBC Radio 3 and Art Beat on the BBC World Service.