The Cast Iron Shore by Linda Grant

The Cast Iron Shore
Linda Grant

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Published: 1996

Longlisted for the 1997 Women's Prize for Fiction

‘This is a capacious and wide-ranging book, not just about individuals but about the history they move through. Whether the scene is Liverpool in the Blitz, a potato-chip factory in the prairies or a seedy hotel room in Hanoi, the writing is immediate… Grant approaches each character with insight and a tart sympathy’ – Hilary Mantel, Literary Review

Sybil Ross has been brought up by her Jewish furrier father and style-obsessed mother as an empty-headed fashion plate. But on the worst night of Liverpool’s blitz she uncovers a secret that leaves her disorientated. When the war is over, Sybil embarks on a voyage that leads her to the very edge of America, and to a final choice.

The Cast Iron Shore is a beautiful evocation of one woman’s journey from the 1930s to the 1990s, combining the personal and political in an outstanding first novel.

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