This is a novel that I expect to find, at the very least, on the Booker Longlist which will be published next month, unless it is delayed again. Sunjeev Sahota writes directly about prejudice in all his novels, whether set in Europe or Asia. The Spoiled Heart is set in The Midlands, somewhere fictional but recognisable.
A man runs, he passes a woman who has recently moved in, but does not greet him, but who he knows vaguely. Nayan Olek lives with his disabled father, and would like this young woman to help look after the old man. Very abruptly she refuses. Nevertheless, her son, Brandon, offers to sit with the father occasionally.
As the narrative develops we learn more about the reasons behind each person’s choices, and how they are bound together in an act of savagery when they were all very much younger. A third character, a journalist, is researching a story, or that is her description of why she is asking for interviews, but it turns out that she too has an ulterior motive.
All is revealed, subtly and slowly. The prejudices which have dictated choices are fundamentally racist and unfair and unfounded, but they have affected lives; in turn these have led to other consequences of material disadvantage.
A page turner from an accomplished and stylish writer. I strongly recommend this and previous novels.
deborahjs 