The Café with Five Faces: What the Walls Heard 2018-2019

The Café with Five Faces, hardly surprisingly, is a café with five distinct areas, each named after a city or town with which the author has a special affinity. Although there is some crossover between the rooms, both in terms of characters and storylines, each space has its own central themes.

Beirut is a room for personal stories and aspired or failed romance, usually of the latter variety (and the author is well-versed in the latter). Budapest is a room for aspiring artists, writers and musicians, usually of the thwarted variety (and, again, the author has relevant experience). Cape Town is a room mainly for men and mainly for politics, exclusively of the pro-liberal and anti-Brexit persuasion, with a bit of football thrown in for good measure. Granada is an outdoor space for raconteurs of travel anecdotes for readers suffering from wanderlust. Last, but not least, Hebden Bridge is a Yorkshire-style tearoom frequented by the over-fifties and just a little bit gossipy.

There’s something for everyone – just choose your room with care!