Awards

• Shortlisted for Orange Prize for Fiction 2002.

Overview

The Whites are an ordinary British family: love, hatred, sex and death hold them together, and tear them apart. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Alfred White, a London park keeper, still rules his home with fierce conviction and inarticulate tenderness. May, his clever, passive wife, loves Alfred but conspires against him. Their three children are no longer close; the successful elder son, Darren, has escaped to the USA. When Alfred collapses on duty, his beautiful, childless daughter Shirley, who lives with Leroy, a black social worker, is brought face to face with Alfred's younger son Dirk, who hates and fears all black people. The scene is set for violence. In the end Alfred and May are forced to make a climactic decision: does justice matter more than kinship? This ambitious, groundbreaking novel takes on the taboo subject of racial hatred as it looks for the roots of violence within the family and within British society.

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9780863561405

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Reviews

'There is much to admire in this novel, for it reminds us that racism not only devastates the lives of its victims, but also those of its perpetrators. Gee handles moments of anger gracefully, moving skilfully between compassion and disgust.' Heather Clark, TLS 'An unashamedly contemporary novel - a millenium novel - complex, many-layered and as readable and quickly satisfying as a television soap.' Melissa Benn, The Independent 'Tackles an unspeakable subject with quiet courage . . . illuminating and fiercely damning of racism and prejudice in all their forms.' Tina Jackson, The Big issue 'In her outstanding new novel, Maggie Gee has audited the multi-ethnic, murderous matter of everyday suburban life and rendered it tender, sexy and alarming.' Jim Crace 'Maggie Gee bravely explores the nuances of racism from the perspective of the perpetrators. The resulting work is a brilliant depiction of British society.' Bernardine Evaristo

The eighth from Britisher Gee (Christopher and Alexandra, 1992, etc.) confronts race and family but feels like Styrofoam: it takes up lots of space, but most of it's air. When the impossibly named Alfred White-caretaker at Albion Park, a place that comes to represent what's left of British orderliness-is hospitalized after an altercation with some blacks while on duty, the aftermath of his recovery is the perfect catalyst for an examination of racism, UK-style. And, oh, what a family to explore: youngest son Dirk is a live-at-home skinhead who used to torture mice when just a wee lad; daughter Shirley might marry a dapper black named Kojo (he calls her his pink, pale pearl; he's her black, dark, beautiful black, a black with the sheen of coal or grapes ); wife May loves her husband and everyone else, but just can't understand all these politics going on around her; and other son Darren is off to America for legitimate opportunity. The family history is littered with violence-before being beaten in the park, Alfred did the hitting around here. After all, there was that time when Shirley got preggers and no one knew whether the child was coloured. In any event, what's going to happen when attacks start to occur regularly in Albion park because Alfred's gone? He's the caretaker-so he'll have to go back, won't he? Most among an American readership will tire of the lengthy interior monologue that passes for characterization here-we're more pushed away than drawn in. And with characters so often either insipid bigots or righteous liberals, who'd want to be so close to their thoughts? Then again, the rawness may appeal to some, at least for the way it seems to record the continuing decline of the dark side of the British imperial legacy. Stylistically, though, still on the far side of the pond. (Kirkus Reviews)

It is the turn of the new millennium. Alfred White is a London park keeper. He rules his home with fierce convictions and inexpressible tenderness. His wife May is put-upon and passive. She loves Alfred but still conspires against him. Their three children - Douglas, Shirley and Dirk - have grown up and grown apart. Douglas, the eldest and most successful, lives in the States, while beautiful, childless Shirley lives with her Afro-Caribbean boyfriend Elroy, whom she compares constantly with her ex-lover Kojo, and Dirk, the youngest and least well-adjusted, lives at home, where he nurtures a deep-rooted fear and hatred of black people. When Alfred collapses at work, his children must confront their personal demons. For Shirley, this is an especially difficult and unpleasant task. She is brought face to face with the prejudices - her own and her brother's - which she has kept swept under the carpet. Ultimately, she and her parents must choose between love of family and belief in justice and morality. This, Maggie Gee's eighth novel, tackles the subject of racial hatred in modern Britain head-on. It is a timely subject, as the far right enjoys a frightening resurgence, both at home and abroad. But Gee is no polemicist, nor is her novel likely to date. Her prose is subtle, probing the nuances of racism in all its forms, her characters complex in their ordinariness and familiarity. In this age of superficial chick-lit, the scope and elegance of her writing reminds us that there is another, more mature tradition at work in English literature, a tradition to which Gee resolutely belongs. (Kirkus UK)

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