Ghost town

Catriona Troth writes about the background to her new novel

by Catriona Troth 3rd January 2014

In 1981 I was a postgraduate student at the University of Warwick, living in Earlsdon, one of Coventry’s satellite villages, and periodically attending the lovely, modern Quaker Meeting on Hill Street.

I was aware, through that spring and summer, of rising tensions between skinhead and Asian youths. There was an undercurrent of violence in the air. In places like Brixton and Toxteth and Moss Side riots were breaking out in British cities.