Showing 1-2 out of 2 reviews.

• Simply marvellous. The novel revolves around five characters and the intricate way in which they all gradually become involved with each other. Exquisitely plotted, the author never once lets the string of coincidences impair the underlying plausibility of the story, and all of the characters are beautifully drawn.Amanda Craid also manages to deliver blistering attacks on the plights of asylum seekers, and the manner in whcih the underclass become almost invisible to the bulk of the population though a communal wave of denial, though she achieves this without ever seeming to proselytise. All in all a quite enchanting novel, and I look forward to reading her previous works.

  5.00 out of 5

  Eyejaybee

• This novel, which was longlisted for the 2010 Orange Prize, is set in contemporary London, and opens with the discovery of the body of a young unknown woman in a pond in upscale Hampstead Heath. From there we are introduced to the five main characters: Polly, an divorced asylum lawyer, who fiercely struggles to combine her career with motherhood; Job, an educated and literate immigrant from Zimbabwe, who has fled to the capital to avoid the horrors of his homeland; Ian, a white South African teacher in a rundown public school where chaos and violence is a constant threat; Anna, a 15 year old girl who agrees to emigrate to London to become a hotel chambermaid but is forced into sexual slavery; and Katie, a young American who works as the personal assistant for the publisher of the <i>Rambler</i>, a London daily best known for controversy rather than accuracy and good taste. The five live separate lives of near constant frustration and occasional menace, in a faceless city where the police are indifferent and all except the most wealthy are emotionally abraded and cross. Through them and several minor characters Craig shows us the underside of life in the capital, where illegal immigrants fill the jobs that are beneath the dignity of other Londoners, and live hand to mouth in a daily battle to earn enough to survive, while steering clear of the constant threat of discovery by authorities and deportation back to their home countries. A series of unrelated and increasing threats affect each of the characters, and the author expertly weaves their stories and lives together in a tale that is both believable and compelling. <i>Hearts and Minds</i> is a superb novel which gives the reader a view of the lives of the invisible and voiceless workers of the underground economy of a large city in the context of a gripping story. Highly recommended!

  4.50 out of 5

  kidzdoc

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