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"I was nearly 70 and hadn't really believed I would ever get published when late in 2005 I was offered a two-book deal. My entire world changed. . ."

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A blues for Shindig
by Mo Foster

Shindig didn't know it but her reputation with the boys of Soho had been made that day. It had been one of those occasions when time had gone into freefall, everyone watched as he arced gracefully through the air and fell to the floor. He was quickly despatched out into the courtyard. Sharks would discover him soon. . .

The Rendezvous Club is a squalid little gaff off a slippery courtyard. Here, you'll always find a gathering of the 'boys' of Soho . These are men's men; mostly one syllable names: Vic, Stan or Reg, and definitely not how you would expect gangsters to look - no Bogarts or Greenstreets here. From the 'meat rack' in the Dilly to Joe Lyons Corner House at Coventry Street or the Sunset Club on Carnaby Street, it is startling how these places fit in and complement deviant life and villainy.

Soho 1950s, a centre for misfits and petty criminals. Surrounded by this unusual brew of characters, Shindig seems to fit right in. That is until things change for the bosses up west and the powers look to be shifting in Soho 's underworld...

Publication Details:

Paperback / 304pp
ISBN: 0-9551094-2-6
ISBN: 978-0-9551094-2-3
Publisher: Paperbooks Ltd.
Pub. Date: 02-06-06

A Note about the Author:

Being a pathological liar is a prerequisite for any writer (and any politician of course) and having that facility in abundance led Mo Foster from the vivid world of lowlife fifties Soho to the infinitely duller world of teaching creative writing, which purgatory in turn finally drove her to write A Blues for Shindig ‘To remind me that there is still life out there! I just lost my way!' she says. ‘I was driven to write this celebration of low life and loving by memories of joys long gone. It might be autobiographical – or not. Memory is not a quantifiable commodity. Enjoy!

'Will you believe it? You choose.

Reviews

Lovereading view...

A gritty examination of the underbelly of 1950s Soho.  Gangsters, drugs, crime and sex provide the background to this novel set around an illegal drinking den populated by a host of colourful characters.  It's certainly a far cry from the 50s stereotype of pinafore-clad housewives in suburbia.

Great dialogue a good pace, and characters with a lot of depth make this a worthwhile read.

A BLUES FOR SHINDIG, an unsentimental look at London in the 1950s, is refreshingly forthright. The novel charts a year in the life of nineteen-year-old Mary, better known as Shindig after a momentous encounter with a fresh client in the seedy club where she works. Shindig topples him off his bar stool and, with this one swift move, earns herself the respect of her boss Tiger. Words spreads throughout Soho, and her reputation is made.

The dialogue is brilliant, recreating the street language of the time. But that's not all; the whole book is original and entertaining, not a cliche to be found on a single page. I loved Shindig, resourceful and spunky, as well as another young girl, Frantic. Then there's Shindig's landlady, Vera, probably in her forties but considered ancient, and Shindig's black American love, Berry . The villains, though clearly villainous, seem curiously gentlemanly by modern standards.
Reactions to gays and blacks give another fascinating insight into the times when it was illegal to be gay and racism was not only rife but considered sporting. Our society may have become more tolerant but, in my view, it's also a good deal less honest and decidedly less supportive.

A BLUES FOR SHINDIG is a great read. Don't miss it.

Tessa Warburg – Amazon.co.uk

Soho in the 1950's. Shindig is 19 and barmaid of an illegal drinking club, popular with the sort of scruffy gangster who would never make Hollywood . Her spare time is taken up with sex, drugs and general dabbling on the wrong side of the law. Very streetwise is Shindig - or so she thinks until she finds out there are bigger games being played in Soho and she has become one of the cards.

This is a journey to another world, brought vividly to life with a sure sense of place and atmosphere, and peopled by a cast of characters that would last many writers half a dozen books at least. And what a guide Shindig makes - warm, wryly humorous, subversive, eternally curious and touchingly naive.

Some books are good, some books are different. This is one that is good and different. Highly recommended.

Amazon.co.uk

My teens in the fifties were nothing like Shindig's. While I was going to Guides, playing tennis and doing Scottish dances, young girls in Soho were doing sex, drugs and jazz and bedding black blokes, not to mention petty and grand nicking.

She is a very quirky protagonist: honest, resilient, tolerant, endearing and at the same time worryingly naive, a trait which gradually pulls her towards the nastier underbelly of Soho crime.

The pace is fast, dialogue uses realistic and lively idiom/dialect. The language is peppered with swear words used as adjectives mainly but you get used to it. Mo's use of unexpected poetic similes and metaphor add spice to the text.

This is a zippy, entertaining, eye-opener: racy, seedy, sometimes gross and very funny.

Amazon.co.uk

I have just finished this new book and enjoyed it a lot. A must for anyone who has known or wants to know what it is like to be young and alone in London . It stayed with me when I wasn't reading it and caused me to review my own life like a good book can. I was racing towards the end and got there wanting either to reread this book or another by the same author. It was funny, fascinating, devastating and life affirming all at once.

Amazon.co.uk

Mo Foster's 'A Blues For Shindig' is a must read. Refreshingly original and written with an ascerbic wit, Foster's portrayal of Soho's underworld of the fifties is a joy to read and just as relevant today. The story is narrated by the feisty Shindig who seems to attract colourful characters of every ilk, be it spivs, queens or black American heroin addicts. Shindig soon finds her life going into freefall but the writing is always upbeat and edgy. Whether she is working out her next strategy in a pub loo which is "pink and sort of ruched, like a vaginal wall," or travelling in a prison van where in the next cage there is "a feathery movement like breath", Shindig will always come up smelling of - well, Guinness, more than likely.

Amazon.co.uk

I have just finished this new book and enjoyed it alot. A must for anyone who has known or wants to know what it is like to be young and alone in London. It stayed with me when I wasn't reading it and caused me to review my own life like a good book can. I was racing towards the end and got there wanting either to reread this book or another by the same author. It was funny, fascinating, devastating and life affirming all at once.

Amazon.co.uk