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Peckham Rye
Joseph Wright, a young, alcoholic, mixed-race man, lives alone in a Peckham council flat earning a living by solving tough problems for people in his community. A chance phone call leads him on a tense trail from the poverty of London housing estates to gold mines in Ghana, and from the sinister underbelly of London’s global service sector to the gaudy riches of Mayfair.
As Joseph struggles to make sense of his own story, he takes the reader on a dangerous journey of discovery towards a truth that should be as unpalatable as it is unacceptable for those who still want to believe in democracy. In doing so he finds both the personal and institutional reasons for the gaping inequality in economic outcomes we see today and has to confront powerful forces, which, over hundreds of years, have captured much of the world’s history for their own ends.
As Joseph struggles to make sense of his own story, he takes the reader on a dangerous journey of discovery towards a truth that should be as unpalatable as it is unacceptable for those who still want to believe in democracy. In doing so he finds both the personal and institutional reasons for the gaping inequality in economic outcomes we see today and has to confront powerful forces, which, over hundreds of years, have captured much of the world’s history for their own ends.
264 pages, Paperback
Published September 28, 2025
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 19, 2025
I quite like a book set somewhere I know, but this is not the Peckham I know.
Joseph seems to know everyone, and half of them owe him a favour. At times it's a bit confusing the sheer amount of characters introduced, and then whisked out again.
The whole book moves at a quick pace, blink and you might miss something important.
I enjoyed it, and would be interested if Joseph shows up again, because I think this book lays the foundations nicely for a good complicated character.
Joseph seems to know everyone, and half of them owe him a favour. At times it's a bit confusing the sheer amount of characters introduced, and then whisked out again.
The whole book moves at a quick pace, blink and you might miss something important.
I enjoyed it, and would be interested if Joseph shows up again, because I think this book lays the foundations nicely for a good complicated character.
Displaying 1 of 1 review