4.25 stars!

There are some books which you hear the names of and you think, okay, this is going to be one delicious, lip-smacking book about some delicious, lip-smacking food. Instead, it turns out to be about something else altogether – a headily intriguing mix of the sweetness of the little joys in life, the bitterness of harsh reality, the sourness of anger, the saltiness of sorrow, the bland taste of helplessness, that spicy tang of enthusiastic motivation – and it fills you up with not only emotions, but also with the reiterated knowledge that the world is way more complicated and intricately connected than we think it is.

'Hot Stew' by Fiona Mozley is one such book. This story is set in SoHo, a part of London where women have been working in their own brothels for years, only for the owner of the building, Agatha, to decide to kick them out of their homes, first through sly measures and then by more outright ones. There is a host of characters in this book that are more complex than you realize in the first go.

But as this 'Hot Stew' comes together, you realize that power doesn’t just come from wresting it from others. It also comes from the place where the women in this story stand strong and fight back against eviction. How all of this reiterates the unfortunate fact that power and money is what you need to become visible in society forms the entire story.

Hot Stew is one book that I’ll probably remember forever, thanks to its eccentric and edgy writing style that gives us so many insights into the lives of sex workers and what they go through. Fiona Mozley takes us through life itself in this book by talking us through the uncertainty of living, inherited wealth, regrets, love, the forceful nature of desperation, looking out for ourselves, the connection that laces through us all, and so much more.

Nothing is a coincidence in this book. Everything happens for a reason. Everything and everyone in this novel is interconnected. It tells us that the stories that you think have nothing to do with you, will come back to you in a loop that you will never see coming. And that is one moral of this story: that know people’s stories before you decide to ruthlessly knock them down for your own gains.

Fiona Mozley’s characters ooze humanity. You start to balance the goods and the bads, the pros and the cons – only to realize that the world is merely different shades of grey.

What is superbly empowering to read is how the women of the brothel stand up to save their homes. They are fierce in their defense and to read their words as encourage each other sent goosebumps up my spine. And when this strength clashes with the stubbornness of the developers, all hell’s about to rain down, while throwing light on the fact that money isn’t all that is worth living for.

And Hot Stew, in a bid to talk about power, manages to encompass both forms of power – the raw, fierce one that allows you to take a stand for yourself and defend what you love, and the blinding power that makes some people put themselves on a pedestal.

I’d highly recommend this book. Must, must read!

A fun and quirky character-driven novel that is sweet and charming and feels bigger than the small neighborhood in which it is set.

Fiona Mozley writes so wonderfully that I doubt I would care what the subject of her work was. She flawlessly blends beautiful, lyrical descriptive passages with biting wit and poignant psychological observations.

The story certainly sells us hard on the evils of gentrification and acceptance of all comers, though while we root for the oddball characters in the book, I doubt most of us would want to live on this block as is, no matter how accepting we think we are.

Still, sex workers Precious and Tabitha are a delight and easy to root for, and semi-anti hero Robert makes for a great redemption story. I think I liked Agatha a lot more than one is supposed to, but hey, she’s a sympathetic character in ways that I think are often brushed aside because we as readers want to feel virtuous and thus root for someone who is purely “good.”

Mozley’s complexly developed characters give the reader a lot to think about in this respect, and her sharp humor keeps it all light enough that the book stays firmly out of the dreadful morality tale genre.

A second novel-the first, ELMET,was a coveted Booker prize nominee.
The setting is London’ SOHO, and the author does a good job of describing its origins and the changes that occur and are occurring in the area.
There is a big cast of characters-ranging from the eccentrically depicted property heiress Agatha, who wants to gentrify the area,to the prostitutes who live and work in her property, to those who live marginally and homelessly on the fringes of society.All of the characters are fully depicted and easily remembered( quite a “ stew” from actors to lawyers to alcoholics to prostitutes) but , at least for me, none were memorable,and the end fates of many, at least for me, not quite believable. In short, I was a bit disappointed, particularly so after ELMET

Hot Stew packs a punch! Fiona Mozley's second novel dives into several issues concerning the SoHo area of London, including gentrification, ownership, identity, and community. The story follows a diverse cast of characters who are all connected in some way, either known to them or not. The plot is centered around a run-down walk-up brothel in the heart of the neighborhood and the current owner's desire to kick out the existing tenants in order to cater to the new gentrified crowd moving into the area.

The POV changes with every short chapter and makes the reading experience very fast paced and engaging. The way that the connections between the characters were revealed was cunningly written and kept the reader guessing, almost like getting clues while reading a mystery.

The story brings together people from all walks of life and gives the reader a look into their struggles and triumphs. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and look forward to more written by Mozley. Thanks to Algonquin Books for the arc!

Hmmm...Hot Stew is the perfect title for this book. It has two completely different plots that are rubbing uncomfortably together like too tight shoes on bare feet.

The first story is a brothel that is fighting gentrification in Soho, London. I liked the strong female prostitutes. There were no victims here. However, Agatha, the landlord trying to kick them out seems almost like a comic book villain. Though if you are old enough, she will remind you of real-life personality, Leona Hemsley, aka The Queen of Mean.

The second plot is almost bizarro science fiction, which generally I enjoy. It just seemed weird shoved into this book. A hidden underground world? In a story about the evils of gentrification? I just didn’t get it.

However, the prose goes a long way to make up for the plotting issues. It is luxurious—like sinking into a warm bubble bath. I could clearly see all the settings in my mind’s eye as if I were a fly on the wall.

Overall, Hot Stew is a stew—not a melting pot. But the prose raises my rating to 4 stars!

Thanks to Algonquin Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was interested to request Hot Stew as it reminded me why I picked Human Geography as a degree subject. The mix of people in Soho, different backgrounds, gentrification of an area and their lifestyles had me hooked. There is a huge cast of characters and the novel is very atmospheric. I found the history of Soho and the development of the area really interesting, and it was a fascinating addition to the plot.

The brothel is on the upper floors of a building and there is a French restaurant at street level with a homeless squat in the basement.

Key themes are poverty, life struggles dark and varied life stories and a real melting pot of people. The interactions between them were interesting and very much like real life.

I was not too keen about the idea of a brothel, but the mixture of businesses, the seedier brothel and the classy restaurant, got me curious and I wanted to see who I would meet along the way.

Original, quirky and different, Hot Stew has a dark side but also opens up the reality of what life is like for people.

I congratulate Fiona Mozley for weaving such an intricate novel and for daring to uncover subjects and parts of society others do not.

Thanks to Fiona Mozley and Algonquin Publishing for my ARC in exchange for a voluntary and honest review.

4 stars.

Did not fully know what to expect from this book but I was definitely excited to read and was not disappointed by it. The writing was snappy and thoughtful. I thoroughly enjoyed how the characters lives all overlapped and intersected one way or another. A window view into a community from different angles. The topics of wealth, gentrification, privilege, and society's views on sex workers were, in my opinion, well explored in Hot Stew. It was also enjoyable to see that no one was really a villain in this book. Points were made, but the nuances and complexity of why people are the way they are were not dismissed. The ending was also quite something! I definitely enjoyed reading Hot Stew and will recommend it to other readers upon its publication. Looking forward to also writing a longer blog book review for How Stew book tour! Genuinely interesting and lovely read.

Fiona Mozley is out with her first full length fiction since the spectacular success of the 2017 Booker Short-Listed “Elmet”. It is entitled “Hot Stew” and it is a stunner.

If anyone ever had any doubts about inequities in our world, they should by now be fully swept away. Everyone needs shelter, food, health care, safety, quality work, joy, and respect. The path to attaining these vary widely depending on access based on race, ethnicity, wealth, political standing, gender, etc. ”Hot Stew” takes a deep drive into these disparities in a powerful, yet cunning, way.

There are a whole host of characters of which to keep track, but the most compelling is arguably the Soho section of West London. Long a redoubt for culture, arts and the more dionysian needs of humans, it is constantly subject to gentrification. While dive bars, strip clubs, massage parlors, and hotels that rent out by the hour, day, week, and month have their charm, there is always more money to be made by tearing down than by carefully restoring. That there is human collateral is a minor detail that need not weigh heavily on the morals of the political and ownership classes.

I loved the characters. They could have been cutout stereotypes, but they were not. There were depictions of all manners of depravity. Sensitive readers beware. Some characters stepped up and out of their oppression, finding voices that they never knew. Others get back up off the ground, dusted themselves off and began to chart a new course. Some became remorseful, others never could. All in all a lively, compelling, sad and hopeful story of our times.

Thank you to Algonquin Books and NetGalley for the dARC.

Compelling, intertwined stories from characters across class, ultimately touching on gentrification, power, inheritance, and generational influence. Excellent consistency in the narrative, despite the individuals coming from myriad backgrounds and current situations. Highly recommended, and would state in the same sentence as James McBride's "Deacon King Kong."

Sad but perhaps not surprising to say, this second novel doesn’t reach the same heights as its predecessor. It’s a big, baggy book about Soho, its past and present, delivered by a huge cast of characters, many of whom aren’t especially interesting and others who aren’t especially convincing. Symbolic things happen but nothing quite matters. Maybe book 3 will be better.

If Fiona Mozley had written this book under a pseudonym - and why would she do that!? - I may not have requested it to read and review. Instead, this is a "most anticipated book of 2021" and a welcome followup to 2017's Elmet, long listed for the Booker prize. Elmet divided it's readers, but was a favorite of mine and recommended with enthusiasm to friends. How did Mozley switch gears so abruptly without stripping her writing gears? Well, those gears are functioning well enough to produce a lively, humorous character rich book that is the carrot to Elmet's whip in terms of the ethics of modern life.

Like her Booker-nominated novel Elmet, Fiona Mozley’s followup — Hot Stew — concerns issues of identity, ownership, gentrification, and those on the margins who get pushed out as the ultra-rich move in. But where Elmet was set in an idyllic and seemingly ageless hinterland, Hot Stew occurs in the seethe of modern-day London, mostly focussing on one crumbling Soho townhouse and the goings-on therein. Along the way, Mozley explores classism, gender politics, sexuality, and money, money, money. The social commentary is still pretty black and white this time around (the poor are good and the rich are evil), but there are some surprises around who holds the ultimate power and there are some nicely funny bits. This was an easy, character-filled read and shows an author building on her strengths; but perhaps not in the direction of more literary awards. An overall enjoyable read; I’ll round up to four stars.

3.5, rounded up. A really enjoyable, gently satirical, and imaginatively written State of the Nation novel. Starting from a (literal) snail's-eye perspective, Mozley situates the reader in a single aging building on a busy street in London's SoHo, housing a high-end brothel on the upper floors, a French restaurant for tourists, and a homeless squat in the cellar.

Billionaire Agatha, the mustache-twirling villain, has inherited the building from her gangster father, and applies legal and illegal pressure to evict the sex workers upstairs, including the lovingly-drawn protagonists, Precious and Tabitha. Along the way, we encounter Londoners from various walks of life, sexualities, and ethnicities: an aging ex-gangland enforcer, a posh Oxbridge-educated lawyer's son, an underemployed actor, and a heroin-addicted homeless couple, all of whom Mozley renders with compassion. But the minor characters are reduced to being near-Dickensian caricatures of sociological categories, and some of her social observations are unexamined and obvious, even for Guardian readers.

I wouldn't have believed you if you told me that this was written by the same novelist who wrote the belabored Elmet. The only common element between the two novels might be the crude black-and-white moralism that shapes Mozley's own barely-camouflaged views about politics, society, and capitalism.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for an unbiased review.