The go-between

£10.99

The son of Afghan parents, Osman Yousefzada was raised in post-industrial Birmingham. Osman’s father was a carpenter, and his mother, to help make ends meet, took up sewing and became a seamstress. Women from Indian-East African, Israeli, Shia and Afghan communities came together in the Yousefzada household to have clothes made and mended by his mother. Osman learned the craft at her knee and became enraptured by what was deemed a woman’s job, and increasingly found himself at odds with the highly patriarchal culture he grew up in. Whether secretly bringing his sister books and magazines from the local library, lusting after forbidden jelly in the local shop, or chatting to the area’s prostitutes, Osman quietly weaved in and out of different spheres. But no one can be a go-between forever, and Osman’s is a story of finding your own way, even if it means turning your back on the world you know.

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Description

WINNER OF THE BIOGRAPHERS’ CLUB SLIGHTLY FOXED BEST FIRST BIOGRAPHY PRIZE

‘Full of love, wisdom and yearning’ Kit de Waal

A coming-of-age story set in Birmingham in the 1980s and 1990s, The Go-Between opens a window into a closed migrant community living in a red-light district on the wrong side of the tracks.

The adult world is seen through Osman’s eyes as a child: his own devout migrant Muslim patriarchal community, with its divide between the world of men and women, living cheek-by-jowl with parallel migrant communities.

Alternative masculinities compete with strict gender roles, and female erasure and honour-based violence are committed, even as empowering female friendships prevail. The stories Osman tells, some fantastical and humorous, others melancholy and even harrowing, take us from the Birmingham of Osman’s childhood to the banks of the river Kabul and the river Indus, and, eventually, to the London of his teenage years.

Osman weaves in and out of these worlds, struggling with the dual burdens of racism and community expectations, as he is forced to realise it is no longer possible to exist in the spaces in between.

Additional information

Weight 246 g
Dimensions 19.8 × 12.9 × 2.2 cm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

358

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

746.92092 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K

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