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London Blues

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London Blues

By: Anthony Frewin
Narrated by: Paul Thornley
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Summary

The chance discovery of a 30-year-old blue movie leads back to the film's maker, Tim Purdom, and the London of the late fifties and early sixties.

Purdom was a pioneer of the B&W British porno film and a figure on the periphery of the Profumo sex scandal. He directed eight films... but who was directing him and what was their hidden agenda? And where is Tim now?

London Blues explicitly and unremittingly details the hidden world of Soho vice and London's demi-monde at the time when the grey 1950s were giving way to the 'swingin' sixties'. It is a dramatic and compelling venture into the secret history of our time - a provocative and totally original novel.

Anthony Frewin was born in London and lives in Hertfordshire. He was assistant film director to Stanley Kubrick for over 20 years. He has written three novels, London Blues, Sixty-Three Closure and Scorpian Rising.

©1997 Anthony Frewin (P)2013 Audible Ltd Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense England Fiction
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Critic reviews

A forceful, striking thriller...' - Time Out'The quintessential Soho book' - Loaded'Fifties atmosphere, powerfully evoked' - Literary Review'London Blues is visual in a way few books are - the eye of the narrator is like a camera lens, panning across the lost London of memory' - Peter Dillon-Parkin, Crime Time'What a gripping tour de force is Anthony Frewin's London Blues!' - Terence Strong, Tangled Web
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Greatly atmospheric story. Depicted the period really well. The characters were well rounded and believable.

Good period story

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Remember some of the incidents as a youngster. It shows just how life has changed in the last 60 years. Would recommend just for the memories created by the narrator and writer.

Remember well

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Quite a unique story line and captures the early 60s from a different perspective.

the narrator, brilliant

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Having loved Scorpian Rising, I was straight back aboard the Frewin train. Anthony Frewin, in addition to having written three novels, was assistant film director to Stanley Kubrick for over 20 years. Paul Thornley does another excellent job of narrating the tale.

London Blues (1997) is another corker. It takes a while to get going however every page is chock full of wonderful and well informed period detail. Once the protagonist arrives in London in 1959 things pick up fast.

In common with Baron's Court, All Change, London Blues has a real proto-Mod vibe running through it. I love this sort of stuff.

The novel takes place during 1959-1963 and intersects with the Profumo Affair and specifically Stephen Ward.

As the title suggests most of the book takes place in a London slowly waking up from post WW2 austerity and into the swinging sixties. If you like reading about London during this era then do not hesitate. This is a great read especially that London period detail: Maltese gangsters, Soho proto-porn shops, Super 8 blue moves, Jazz on the record player, girls drinking Cherry B, “charge” etc.

Excellent early 60s period

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Fantastic performance by Paul Thornley, dishing out a nice tale, albeit with a weak storyline. There’s to many occasions on which it leaves the reader with a “but what of it?” feeling.

great performance

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