Edgware Road: Yasmin Cordery Khan

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But I can assure you that it’s worth the read, even if the beginning seems slow paced is like a spider web that attracts you and you don’t know how to leave. A gripping family mystery with emotional depth and intriguing social context – Edgware Roadis a riveting, smartly-written debut. This was a brilliant read, delving into the lives of first and second generation immigrants settled in London. It looked at how they coped with life in this area, but more specifically how they fit and connect with previous generations of their family. There were contrasts between each generation and how Westernised further generations have become. The characters in different sections were not always connected directly and in a digital early copy that could become a bit confusing, especially if a section was set in a different historical time period. However, all were connected in some way and this became clearer as time passed.

I liked Khalid’s comparison of the Irish Catholics and Sufis as “their own little people”. An Irish pub seems an odd place for him to feel at home, but then he’s an odd sort of fellow.The behemoth of a task ahead of him. (In fact the towering building, Capital House, commissioned the wry sculpture). Khan notes, ‘it [Edgware Road] was a Roman Road - dead straight - that goes out to Edgware….it starts in Mayfair and then it goes out to money transfer shops and suburbs.’ Directly after, there's a sign that harbingers change, as we enter the less-loved end of Edgware Road.

It’s an ambitious book, well-written and thoughtful, and I think it’s pretty much achieved its ambitions. There is certainly more to it than I expected. I look forward to seeing how this is received by proper critics. I had no idea that the start of this book would lead to a plot of international fraud, corruption and one of the biggest financial scandals of the 1980sI must note that Alia’s character left a big impression on me because she grew so much as a character as the book progressed. As she learned more about her family, her father and the past, she found a sense of belonging and finally realised who she really is and for me, that is one of many strong messages that this book was trying to convey to the readers. As the Arabic script sandwich boards and estate agent windows suggest, we are now entering what came to be known as 'Little Beirut'. Arabs have descended on Edgware Road since the end of the 19th century and have long since transformed it into one of central London's most characterful thoroughfares — an infinitely more interesting pavement to pound than nearby Oxford Street or Tottenham Court Road. How an immigrant Khalid Qurashi, who has been trying to make his way with work at the biggest casino in London finds an opportunity to move beyond bets on horses and slot machines to the 'big' time. But when the big time includes names such as Abedi and Khashoggi then you may find yourself beyond your depth. It’s 1981, and Khalid has big dreams for his future. He works in the West End, determined to attain the wealth displayed by the clients he encounters in the Playboy casino, determined “ to be the paymaster. Nothing else in the world could give you authority, and respect”. He’s also married to a beautiful woman and has a daughter, Alia. Always the optimist, when London Playboy is shut down, he’s not worried about losing his job. He’ll take a position with the company in the Bahamas. But alongside this optimism, Khalid is a gambler. He makes bad decisions, his relationship breaks down, he’s in serious debt, and so throws himself into an investment opportunity he's certain will solve all his problems, until his body is found washed-up far from home.

Just up from it, on the other side of the road, a beautiful pawnbrokers appears to have weathered the centuries well. Earlier images online suggest it's been going since 1797. A line like "The sweet, apple-y aroma of shisha fills the nostrils almost the moment you hit the Edgware Road," comes across as downright trite. It's also more or less accurate. We haven't spotted the first of the ubiquitous shisha pipes yet, but the scent is already curling deliciously towards us. Just to the east, lies its Circle line cousin, where Allan Sly's sculpture of a window cleaner removes his cap and scratches his head in exasperation. Why? Another theme is Mo Salah: worshipped, apparently, in three places: Egypt, Liverpool and the Edgware Road. Though the Allah adverts pasted onto the sides on buses on routes along here remind people who the real god is. The novel, which Khan has described as a love letter to London, pursues two parallel narratives, the first concerning a wonderfully vibrant character Khalid Quraishi, who is a croupier for Hugh Hefner’s Playboy casino in London, while his Pakistan-based parents still think he’s pursuing an engineering degree at Imperial.There is a glittering sequence when Adnan Khashoggi, the stupendously wealthy Saudi arms dealer in real life, visits the casino during a shift when Khalid is working. Khalid loves to gamble, and his faith in winning big tomorrow becomes a metaphor, perhaps for all of us deep down – isn’t sudden wealth one of the tropes of progress that we are all raised to? You’ll find it so easy to relax in your air-conditioned double or family room. Feel invigorated in the power shower in your en-suite bathroom using the complimentary toiletries before putting your feet up in front of your flat-screen TV. They and her grandmother are delighted to see her again. There are countless relatives at the party for her. She represents something. However, the key difference here is that there are a large number of narrative threads opened by Khan, including Khalid’s involvement with the BCCI, Alia’s relationship with her family in Pakistan, Denby’s troubled home life – just to name a handful. These plot moments, amongst others, do not feel fully explored.

Sliding to 2003 (the narrative masterfully moves between the two timeframes) and Alia, now a Junior English tutor at Oxford University, is drawn to visit her father’s extended family in Karachi to discover what really happened to him. In search of more shade, we retreat to leafy Paddington Green, which comes with the added bonus of a grass sprinkler. Pacing is also an issue. The first third of the novel is well paced, but the rest, from the middle section through to the conclusion, feels rushed. Alia’s on-off relationship with her flatmate goes nowhere, and whilst Denby’s perspective is an interesting one, he often reads like an afterthought and never quite earns his place in the story. This is a complex story covering different time periods and different characters, not all of whom interact directly but who are connected in some way to the dubious financial transactions we eventually learn about.Every now and then — partly out of curiosity, partly for shade — we nip off piste, to see what hides directly behind Edgware Road. Just off Sussex Gardens we find the unassuming Heron pub. Unassuming apart from two things: a Queens Guard, permanently Perspexed into his sentry box. And a sign that explains the pub is home to meet-ups for The Handlebar Club — a collective of gentlemen who've been priding themselves on their face furniture since 1947.