SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2018 TLS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017
'Generous and empathetic ... opens up postwar migration in all its
richness' Sukhdev Sandhu, Guardian 'Groundbreaking, sophisticated,
original, open-minded ... essential reading for anyone who wants to
understand not only the transformation of British society after the
war but also its character today' Piers Brendon, Literary Review
'Lyrical, full of wise and original observations' David Goodhart,
The Times The battered and exhausted Britain of 1945 was desperate
for workers - to rebuild, to fill the factories, to make the new
NHS work. From all over the world and with many motives, thousands
of individuals took the plunge. Most assumed they would spend just
three or four years here, sending most of their pay back home, but
instead large numbers stayed - and transformed the country. Drawing
on an amazing array of unusual and surprising sources, Clair Wills'
wonderful new book brings to life the incredible diversity and
strangeness of the migrant experience. She introduces us to lovers,
scroungers, dancers, homeowners, teachers, drinkers, carers and
many more to show the opportunities and excitement as much as the
humiliation and poverty that could be part of the new arrivals'
experience. Irish, Bengalis, West Indians, Poles, Maltese, Punjabis
and Cypriots battled to fit into an often shocked Britain and, to
their own surprise, found themselves making permanent homes. As
Britain picked itself up again in the 1950s migrants set about
changing life in their own image, through music, clothing, food,
religion, but also fighting racism and casual and not so casual
violence. Lovers and Strangers is an extremely important book, one
that is full of enjoyable surprises, giving a voice to a generation
who had to deal with the reality of life surrounded by 'white
strangers' in their new country.
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