What a lovely debut! I was immediately hooked by a tale that I find hard to describe (and is probably why I enjoyed it so much). This is best described as a part character, part plot-driven mystery wrapped up in historical fiction. I liked the side story of the MP Mark Denby and how his research (helped by his secretary) hopes to uncover the corruption of the BCCI which it seems is starting to cause concern. This is a complex story covering different time periods and different characters, not all of whom interact directly but who are connected in some way to the dubious financial transactions we eventually learn about.

We come to Nawras, an emporium peddling luxury chocolates and dates — as well as glitzy trinkets to serve them from. Behind the till, Hannane tells us that it is largely customers from the Middle East who shop here. In this heat, juices and ice cream are wheeled out the front of the shop too. A gripping family mystery with emotional depth and intriguing social context – Edgware Roadis a riveting, smartly-written debut. There is an understated family rift building that leaves Alia scrambling to uncover the truth later in life.

Two gentlemen are all to happy to pose for a photo, as they plough through cokes, fresh mango and orange pieces, and a sweet shiha pipe each. Another theme is Mo Salah: worshipped, apparently, in three places: Egypt, Liverpool and the Edgware Road. Though the Allah adverts pasted onto the sides on buses on routes along here remind people who the real god is. However, the key difference here is that there are a large number of narrative threads opened by Khan, including Khalid’s involvement with the BCCI, Alia’s relationship with her family in Pakistan, Denby’s troubled home life – just to name a handful. These plot moments, amongst others, do not feel fully explored. I loved how the chapters intertwined from one timeline to another to keep the suspension and mystery of what happened to Khalid constantly going. The story itself is very beautifully written and at times with such detailed descriptions, I felt like I was in the book with those characters, looking at the world the way they saw it, living their life and feeling the emotions they felt. Honestly, not many books make me feel like I am in the story together with the characters, and that is one of the things that made this book really stand out for me. It’s 1981, and Khalid has big dreams for his future. He works in the West End, determined to attain the wealth displayed by the clients he encounters in the Playboy casino, determined “ to be the paymaster. Nothing else in the world could give you authority, and respect”. He’s also married to a beautiful woman and has a daughter, Alia. Always the optimist, when London Playboy is shut down, he’s not worried about losing his job. He’ll take a position with the company in the Bahamas. But alongside this optimism, Khalid is a gambler. He makes bad decisions, his relationship breaks down, he’s in serious debt, and so throws himself into an investment opportunity he's certain will solve all his problems, until his body is found washed-up far from home.

As the Arabic script sandwich boards and estate agent windows suggest, we are now entering what came to be known as 'Little Beirut'. Arabs have descended on Edgware Road since the end of the 19th century and have long since transformed it into one of central London's most characterful thoroughfares — an infinitely more interesting pavement to pound than nearby Oxford Street or Tottenham Court Road. The behemoth of a task ahead of him. (In fact the towering building, Capital House, commissioned the wry sculpture). Meanwhile Alia is searching for clues following the disappearance of her father. In an endeavour to discover the truth, Alia’s travels take her from exploring the streets of London to connecting with distant relatives in Pakistan. A daughter of a post-partition Pakistani family now living in England, her complex heritage forms a significant part of her narrative.

The novel joins a growing eighties redux vibe in 2022 - a nostalgia that will appeal to anyone How an immigrant Khalid Qurashi, who has been trying to make his way with work at the biggest casino in London finds an opportunity to move beyond bets on horses and slot machines to the 'big' time. But when the big time includes names such as Abedi and Khashoggi then you may find yourself beyond your depth.

Directly after, there's a sign that harbingers change, as we enter the less-loved end of Edgware Road. Khalid can’t resist gambling himself, although not in the big clubs, which he couldn’t afford. He bets on the race and stops in at a local pub with a mate.Sliding to 2003 (the narrative masterfully moves between the two timeframes) and Alia, now a Junior English tutor at Oxford University, is drawn to visit her father’s extended family in Karachi to discover what really happened to him. The novel, which Khan has described as a love letter to London, pursues two parallel narratives, the first concerning a wonderfully vibrant character Khalid Quraishi, who is a croupier for Hugh Hefner’s Playboy casino in London, while his Pakistan-based parents still think he’s pursuing an engineering degree at Imperial. Bob Mortimer wins 2023 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction with The Satsuma Complex But Khalid likes to gamble, and he likes to win. Twenty pounds on the fruit machine, fifty on a sure-thing horse, a thousand on an investment that seems certain to pay out. Now he's been offered a huge opportunity, a chance to get in early with a new bank, and it looks like he'll finally have his big win. Every now and then — partly out of curiosity, partly for shade — we nip off piste, to see what hides directly behind Edgware Road. Just off Sussex Gardens we find the unassuming Heron pub. Unassuming apart from two things: a Queens Guard, permanently Perspexed into his sentry box. And a sign that explains the pub is home to meet-ups for The Handlebar Club — a collective of gentlemen who've been priding themselves on their face furniture since 1947.

These three narrative threads are interwoven into a compelling structure with some solid characters, each perspective alternating between 1987 and 2003. He meets and loves his wife, loves his daughter, gets mixed up in some dodgy dealings which involve Adnan Kashoggi, the wealthy Saudi businessman, and finds himself in some scary situations. Khalid’s body is found a long way from his home, and the police decide he accidentally drowned. We obviously have our suspicions because we know the sort of people he was mixing with. They and her grandmother are delighted to see her again. There are countless relatives at the party for her. She represents something. And whilst this would be entirely possible with more economical prose, the magic behind Edgware Road is its brilliant writing style. It’s a real pleasure to read, which is why it’s frustrating that there isn’t more of it. And this slipshod sign for Paddington Green Police Station (you wouldn't have got such dire signage at the Metropolitan Theatre).

About Yasmin Cordery Khan

This was a brilliant read, delving into the lives of first and second generation immigrants settled in London. It looked at how they coped with life in this area, but more specifically how they fit and connect with previous generations of their family. There were contrasts between each generation and how Westernised further generations have become. The characters in different sections were not always connected directly and in a digital early copy that could become a bit confusing, especially if a section was set in a different historical time period. However, all were connected in some way and this became clearer as time passed. Where do you find a lost father? In the mirror, in the sweep of an arched eyebrow, in the sheen of hair? In the echo of a phrase that comes in the night, passed on and learned.” One of the three protagonists, Khalid is a Pakistani immigrant working as a croupier at Hugh Hefner’s infamous London Playboy Club. Shuffling cards by night, Khalid has big plans for his partner and daughter – dreams of Caribbean islands, diamonds and flash cars. However, despite knowing that the house always wins, Khalid has a gambling problem, staking his family’s future happiness at the expense of the present.