Reviews

Review: Wasafiri Magazine

30th September 2021 Latest News, Reviews

Should We Fall Behind is Sharon Duggal’s follow-up to her debut novel The Handsworth Times, both published by Hebden Bridge’s Bluemoose Books, which dedicated to exclusively showcasing the work of female authors. In an interview Duggal has said that she was making the final edits to the book when the pandemic hit. Although the book doesn’t reference the pandemic directly, its themes, characters, and subject matter provide a frame of reference to contextualise attitudes towards society and fellow human beingsRead More

Review: The TLS

21st January 2021 Latest News, Reviews

Better together A novel of poverty, struggle – and solidarity By David Collard January 22, 2021 should we fall behind 310pp. Bluemoose. £15 (paperback, £9.99).Sharon Duggal In 2016 the Yorkshire-based Bluemoose Books published Sharon Duggal’s The Handsworth Times. The novel was set in the Birmingham district where the author grew up, and vividly described the challenges faced by an ordinary South Asian family at a time of political and economic turmoil, high unemployment, racial tension, National Front marches and the 1981 riots.Read More

Review: The Guardian

3rd December 2020 Latest News, Reviews

Fiction Should We Fall Behind – home and homelessness Wed 2 Dec 2020 09.00 GM: Catherine Taylor This intensely humane second novel, focused on a city’s ‘invisibles’, amplifies the questions Covid-19 has brought into sharp focus In October, homelessness charities reported a sharp increase in the number of young people sleeping rough in London. Although written before the pandemic, Should We Fall Behind, Sharon Duggal’s measured, intensely humane second novel about the “invisible” among us, amplifies the questions Covid-19 has brought into sharpRead More

Yorkshire Times: Review

28th October 2020 Other, Reviews

  Review: Should We Fall Behind Hebden Bridge publishers Bluemoose Books has dedicated 2020 to showcasing the work of female authors. Brighton writer Sharon Duggal is one of those. Her second novel – Should We Fall Behind is a story of the forgotten, the ordinary and the invisible, and how their lives slowly become entwined. With characters less often seen in fiction – the homeless; single mothers; immigrants – the novel is refreshing, normalising the ‘different’ without sensation. Tiny actions the characters makeRead More

Rachel Book Blog: Review

18th October 2020 Reviews

Should We Fall Behind – Review Bluemoose Books haven’t let me down yet. And in this year of 2020, when the rest of the world seems out of kilter, their unique commitment to publishing only women writers seems spot on. Their latest title, published on 20th October Should we fall behind by Sharon Duggal, is yet another triumph. A testament to people, a patchwork of individual stories that weave together to form a community. Stories that sometimes go unheard, even untoldRead More

Louder Than War: Book Review

4th October 2020 Latest News, Reviews, Uncategorised

Sharon Duggal – Should We Fall Behind   Bluemoose Books Out 22 October 2020 Should We Fall Behind is for anyone with a heart who has ever looked at a person huddled in a cold shop doorway surrounded by everything they own and wondered how they got there. Jimmy is an alcoholic smalltown boy unsuccessfully running away from his demons who befriends a young woman Betwa, and shares his pitch in a big city underpass, but she suddenly disappears. His disorganisedRead More

Emma’s Books Review: Should We Fall Behind

4th October 2020 Reviews

Should We Fall Behind is book three to be published by indie publisher Bluemoose Books in 2020, the year of only publishing women. Kevin and his team are responsible for introducing me to some fabulous books which I inevitably want to shout about and push into the hands of willing readers; I’m always delighted to read a book they have decided to publish. This book was no exception. My thoughts: Sometimes, life does not work out the way we’d hoped or dreamed. SometimesRead More

Duggal Chosen for LoveMyRead

28th September 2020 Latest News, Reviews, Uncategorised

LOVEMYREAD chooses … Should We All Fall Behind as one of 6 books especially curated for adults for October 2020    FICTION Jimmy Noone escapes his difficult life in a small town and finds himself living on the streets of a big city where he meets Betwa, who brings with her a chance of real friendship and a glimpse of new hope. Betwa disappears and Jimmy walks across the sprawling metropolis searching for her. He arrives on Shifnal Road onRead More

Elspells Blog: Should We Fall Behind

28th September 2020 Latest News, Reviews

Elspells Review Review: I don’t think it is any great secret that I am a massive fan of the books that Bluemoose have published so far this year. Saving Lucia by Anna Vaught and The Sound Mirror by Heidi James are two of my top reads of 2020, and as such I was both excited and slightly nervous about diving into the third novel in Bluemoose’s year of only publishing books by women. I need not have worried – this book is stunning. IRead More

Morning Star Review: Should We Fall Behind

10th September 2020 Latest News, Reviews, Uncategorised

  Engrossing commentary on the woeful state of the nation SHARON DUGGAL’S captivating debut novel The Handsworth Times was so successful because of its precise detailing of place and time. For her second book, the author shows true creativity in doing quite the opposite but with equal success. From the working-class south Asian community in Birmingham facing endemic racism in the 1980s in The Handsworth Times, Duggal shifts location to a nameless but vaguely contemporary city somewhere in England. Precisely,Read More

Books

  • Should We Fall Behind
    Should We Fall Behind
  • The Handsworth Times
    The Handsworth Times
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