Dread Town
From 3:AM Magazine. One night in my early teens, my father pulled into the road where we lived in the Lozells district of Birmingham. We had just returned from a family visit to a relative’s …
This year’s City Read: Sharon Duggal on her debut novel
From Sussex Life. Brighton-based Sharon Duggal’s debut novel The Handsworth Times tells of the disaffection, violence and unemployment behind the 1981 riots. It is this year’s City Read, and has been called “a book for …
City Reads novel promotes community amid riots and racism
From The Argus. THIS cultural year in Brighton is shaping up to be quite the antidote – or mode of resistance – to the current social and ideological schisms playing out in the UK and …
Duggal’s debut novel to be championed by City Reads
From The Bookseller. A debut novel from British Asian writer Sharon Duggal will be championed by City Reads 2017 in the Brighton and Hove area. The “relevant and important” novel, The Handsworth Times (Bluemoose Books), is set …
Bluemoose Books ‘Book that made my year’
From The Guardian, Hits and misses: indie publishers pick their books of 2016. Kevin Duffy Director, Bluemoose Books The book that made my year The Handsworth Times by Sharon Duggal: how one family struggles to cope after …
Morning Star’s Book of the Year 2016
From the Morning Star. My book of the year is The Handsworth Times (Bluemoose), Sharon Duggal’s account of life in early-80s working- class Birmingham, which is defined by greater and lesser griefs. Mukesh Agarwal’s son …
Women Reads Books
From Women Reads Books. 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, at home …
Amazon
From Amazon.co.uk. “The Handsworth Times” is an outstanding work in every aspect. It conveys a visceral sense both of time & place with a prose style that manages to be both clear & detailed, & …
The Asian Writer
From The Asian Writer. Q. Tell us a bit about yourself and how you started your writing journey? Like most writers I have always written in one way or another but as a working parent …
Riotous story of the power and potential of working-class solidarity
A review by the Morning Star. THIS novel by Sharon Duggal of life in early-1980s working-class Birmingham during the time of inner-city rioting is defined by the greater and lesser griefs of the Agarwal family. …