“Golden Hill” (2016) by Frances Spufford

On Thursday 4th May 2017 HBG travelled to everybody’s favourite city - NYC, and not only that we leapt into Doc Brown’s DeLorean and did us some time travelling because our theme was….

Three Centuries in New York City

We started in 1746, when New York was a small town on the tip of Manhattan Island. We then travelled to 1972 where and took a walk on the wild side in the company of one of twentieth century New York’s most notable artists, Lou Reed, who evokes Andy Warhol's Factory and a rich array of vignettes from Manhattan and beyond. We then got back to 1846 and the slum neighbourhood of the Five Points district where a territorial war comes to a head between two gangs. There was blood.

BOOK: “Golden Hill” (2016) by Frances Spufford

Golden Hill is both a novel about the 18th century, and itself a book cranked back to the novel's 18th century beginnings, when anything could happen on the page, and usually did, and a hero was not a hero unless he ran the frequent risk of being hanged.

This is Fielding's Tom Jones recast on Broadway - when Broadway was a tree-lined avenue two hundreds yards long, with a fort at one end flying the Union Jack and a common at the other, grazed by cows. Rich in language and historical perception, yet compulsively readable, Golden Hill has a plot that twists every chapter, and a puzzle at its heart that won't let go till the last paragraph of the last page.

There reaction was universal acclaim from HBG just varying degrees of enthusiasm.

* Except from Robin. Oh Robin. Why Robin why? Robin read a different book instead. Not for the first time. 

The plot lurches from one engrossing set piece to another and has, at its heart, an intriguing mystery that is not revealed until the very end.

Memorable characters, and the evocation of both the era, and the sense of the nascent New York City, are testimony to Francis Spufford's rigorous research and skills as a writer.

In short, it’s a complete delight.

Nigel 9/10

Roland 8/10

Keith 8/10

Nick 9/10

Tristan 9/10

Hamish 7/10

Robin ??? *

MUSIC: “Transformer” (1972) by Lou Reed 

In 1997, Transformer was named the 44th greatest album of all time in a Music of the Millennium poll conducted in the United Kingdom by HMV Group, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. Transformer is also ranked number 55 on NME 's list of "Greatest Albums of All Time." In 2003, the album was ranked number 194 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It is also on Q Magazine's list of "100 Greatest Albums Ever”.

Yet more love for Lou’s Transformer, thou Hamish was a tad disappointed

FILM: “Gangs of New York” (2002) directed by Martin Scorsese

Gangs of New York is a 2002 American epic period drama film directed by

Martin Scorsese, set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of New York City. The screenplay is by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, and Kenneth Lonergan. It was inspired by Herbert Asbury's 1927 nonfiction book, The Gangs of New York. It was made in Cinecittà, Rome, distributed by Miramax Films and nominated for numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture, among nine other Oscar nominations.

GONY was a bit more divisive but most of us found it a big fat slice of entertainment

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