These Streets by Luan Goldie (Review by Maggie Majstrova)

Jess is holding it together. She has a roof over her head, her relationship with her two teenage children is close, she sees her father regularly, she has a job she loves (albeit a badly paid one), her relationship with the father of her children is healthy enough. She even occasionally dates. She’d describe it all as ‘good enough for me’. But when her landlord decides to sell the house she’s been renting for over a decade (with no contract and well under the market rate) and asks her to move on, suddenly good enough is no longer and cracks start to show in what feels like all areas of her life. Just as she seems to have met some one special. And to top it off, is her menacing older brother, someone she and her father cut off years ago, back again? Set in the streets of East London, Jess’ story is perhaps even more poignant at a time when we all consider what really is ‘good enough’ as our cost of living skyrockets. These Streets is an easy read, one where the characters are familiar but interesting, the streets could be any neighbourhood and the lives any of our friends. The familiarity is one that envelopes us in a warm embrace, while keeping our interest the entire way through. How will Jess manage? Have a read for yourself.