These Streets, the powerful new novel by Women’s Prize-longlisted author Luan Goldie, has been praised in an UnHerd article discussing state-of-the-nation novels entitled ‘Why Fiction is Failing Britain’.

In the article, which you can read in full here, Francesca Peacock bemoans the dearth of novels which tackle everyday reality, but singles out Luan Goldie as an example of an author in touch with 21st-century Britain:

“Many novelists are out of touch with the class-based issues which are at the heart of state of the nation fiction. There are, of course, exceptions — Luan Goldie’s brilliant new novel These Streets is about gentrification and the cost of living in East London; an area the author knows well.”

Newham has an Olympic stadium, its own airport, and a direct train to Paris. But the borough also has one of the highest rates of homelessness in England.

Jessica lives in the borough with her two teenage children, Hazel and Jacob, but a catastrophic string of bad luck costs her her job and home within a few days.

But in the darkness there is hope; her estranged brother returns and she meets the man of her dreams. Can she turn things around and save her family?

These Streets is out now. Grab your copy here or, better, via your local bookshop or Bookshop.org.

You can follow Luan on Twitter @LuanGoldie.