Magnolia Street

by Louis Golding

Book by Golding, Louis

608 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1932

About the author

Louis Golding was a British novelist, poet, short-story, and travel writer. Born into a Jewish-Ukrainian family, Golding wrote about his native Manchester - the setting for his bestselling novel Magnolia Street - but also published a number of fantasies. Magnolia Street and Mr Emmanuel were both made into films.

Reviews

[Liz]

I loved this book. It is a novel with some 'incidents' in it that loosely provide stories, but it is basically a painting in words about a small street in Doomingtom (Manchester, England). The street is divided into Jewish and Gentile sides; the Gentiles have 2 major social venues - the pub and the barbers; the Jews have 2 major social gathering places - the grocer shop and the synagogue. Never the twain shall meet, until one of the incidents occurs that bring the two sides together for the first time. The book takes place between 1910 and 1930, so taking in the First World War.
The beauty of this book is the way that each of the characters is drawn, how they fit into their families and into the street. It was a just joy to read.

[Daniel Benshana]

I read this many years before this edition.

An almost understated look at the lives of one group of people before and after the First World War in one street in the UK. It is semi-tragic, never romantic and powerful for its day.