Hot Stew

Hot Stew reads like a great night out in a city that never sleeps' Jan Carson

'Fiona Mozley not only fulfills her promise but surpasses it, Her new stew is such a steaming, fuming mix of life, lust and London that in the end you feel like you've eaten all of Soho' Hallgrímur Helgason

'Did you know in Tudor times all the brothels were south of the river in Southwark and it was only much later that they moved up this way to Soho, Stews, they were called then,'

Pungent, steamy, insatiable Soho the only part of London that truly never sleeps, Tourists dawdling, chancers skulking, addicts shuffling, sex workers strutting, punters prowling, businessmen striding, the homeless and the lost, Down Wardour Street, ducking onto Dean Street, sweeping into L'Escargot, darting down quiet back alleyways, skirting dumpsters and drunks, emerging on to raucous main roads, fizzing with energy and riotous with life,

On a corner, sits a large townhouse, the same as all its neigGebours, But this building hosts a teeming throng of rich and poor, full from the basement right up to the roof terrace, Precious and Tabitha call the top floors their home but it's under threat its billionaire-owner Agatha wants to kick the women out to build expensive restaurants and luxury flats, Men like Robert, who visit the brothel, will have to go elsewhere, Those like Cheryl, who sleep in the basement, will have to find somewhere else to hide after dark, But the women won't go quietly, Soho is their turf and they are ready for a fight,