To celebrate the arrival of spring, this weekend all our books are on sale at HALF PRICE until Sunday at midnight and we are including a free copy of THE MAP OF THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS with every order.
CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE SPITALFIELDS LIFE BOOKSHOP
Simply add the code SPRINGSALE at checkout to get 50% discount
.
.
“As if I were being poked repeatedly in the eye with a blunt stick, I cannot avoid becoming increasingly aware of a painfully cynical trend in London architecture which threatens to turn the city into the backlot of an abandoned movie studio.”
The Gentle Author presents a humorous analysis of facadism – the unfortunate practice of destroying an old building apart from the front wall and constructing a new building behind it – revealing why it is happening and what it means.
As this bizarre architectural fad has spread across the capital, The Gentle Author has photographed the most notorious examples, collecting an astonishing gallery of images guaranteed to inspire both laughter and horror in equal measure.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER A COPY OF THE CREEPING PLAGUE OF GHASTLY FACADISM
Culminating a distinguished career spanning more than sixty years, historian Gillian Tindall has written a novel as her final statement. In an astonishing feat of literary imagination, she projects herself back onto one of her forebears to conjure a compelling vision of 17th century England.
The protagonist is a Huguenot metal founder, an occupation that leads him from the Sussex Weald to the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, and beyond to the North Country. While in London, he lives above a coffee house in Brick Lane and the book conjures a vivid evocation of Spitalfields at the time of the Huguenots.
This is a hymn to those who pass through life not leaving a trace, except in the hearts of those into whose lives they have been cast.
‘Gillian Tindall’s JOURNAL OF A MAN UNKNOWN is a novel of rare distinction. Tindall’s voice is richly her own: tender but unsentimental and lit by intimate knowledge of her chosen world.’ Colin Thubron
CLICK HERE TO ORDER A COPY OF JOURNAL OF A MAN UNKNOWN
.
.
The Gentle Author assembles a choice selection of CRIES OF LONDON, telling the stories of the artists and celebrated traders, and revealing the unexpected social realities contained within these cheap colourful prints produced for the mass market.
For centuries, these lively images of familiar hawkers and pedlars have been treasured by Londoners. In the capital, those who had no other means of income could always sell wares in the street and, by turning their presence into performance through song, they won the hearts of generations and came to embody the spirit of London itself.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER A COPY OF THE CRIES OF LONDON
David Hoffman’s bold, humane photography records a lost era, speaking vividly to our own times.
When David Hoffman was a young photographer, he came to live in a squat in Fieldgate Mansions in Whitechapel and it changed his life.
Over the following years, he documented homelessness, racism and the rise of protest in startlingly intimate and compassionate pictures to compose a vital photographic testimony of resilience.
A hefty cloth-bound hardback of 240 pages containing over 200 duotone photographic prints on good quality paper.
With an introduction by David Hoffman and commentary throughout.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER A COPY OF ENDURANCE & JOY IN THE EAST END
.
.
.
‘a timely reminder of all that modern Britishness encompasses’ The Observer
In this first London Sikh biography, Suresh Singh tells the candid and sometimes surprising story of his father Joginder Singh who came to Spitalfields in 1949.
Joginder sacrificed a life in the Punjab to work in Britain and send money home, yet he found himself in his element living among the mishmash of people who inhabited the streets around Brick Lane.
Born and bred in London, his son Suresh became the first Punjabi punk, playing drums for Spizzenergi and touring with Siouxsie & the Banshees.
In the book, chapters of biography are alternated with Sikh recipes by Jagir Kaur.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER A COPY OF A MODEST LIVING
Tessa Hunkin’s Hackney Mosaic Project has been responsible for some of the most witty and imaginative mosaics of recent years.
In a bold reinvention of the classical tradition, Tessa has assembled a passionate and diverse team of makers, creating beautiful mosaics that have become cherished landmarks, celebrating community and elevating the streets of East London.
This inspirational collection reveals the scope of Hackney Mosaic Project’s achievement for the first time, ranging from modest pieces in private gardens to expansive murals and pavements in public parks.
Includes an interview with Tessa Hunkin by The Gentle Author, commentary by Wendy Forrest, a map with locations of the mosaic and a description of the working process.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER A COPY OF HACKNEY MOSAIC PROJECT
.
.
‘This small, beautiful book is an elegy to companionship. Encompassing both the everyday and the profound, it should be judged no less valid for the fact that the friend in question is a cat.’ Times Literary Supplement
Anyone that has a cat will recognise the truth of this tender account by The Gentle Author.
“I was always disparaging of those who doted over their pets, as if this apparent sentimentality were an indicator of some character flaw. That changed when I bought a cat, just a couple of weeks after the death of my father. ”
Filled with sentiment yet never sentimental, THE LIFE & TIMES OF MR PUSSY is a literary hymn to the intimate relationship between humans and animals.
.
.
AS Jasper’s tender memoir of growing up in the East End of London at the beginning of the twentieth century was immediately acclaimed as a classic when it was described by the Observer as ‘Zola without the trimmings.’
In this definitive new edition, A Hoxton Childhood is accompanied by the first publication of the sequel detailing the author’s struggles and eventual triumph in the cabinet-making trade,The Years After.
Illustrated with line drawings by James Boswell and Joe McLaren
CLICK HERE TO ORDER A COPY OF A HOXTON CHILDHOOD
.
.
