I’m always amazed by the stories that are forgotten when writing history, which is why I loved reading Matt Houlbrook’s latest ‘Songs of Seven Dials’. It’s a brilliant re-telling of the Seven Dials neighbourhood in London during the 1920s and 1930s and a moving tribute to the people who lived there. To explain how one of London’s most diverse neighbourhoods was literally erased and redrawn, historian Houlbrook first tells the story of a libel trial between cafe owners from the Dials and a national newspaper. It’s soon clear that the trial is a symptom of the racial prejudice and tensions between a city and its people that would transform the Dials and see modern London’s becoming. The ‘intimate history’ is an essential insight into the voices that are often silenced by a city’s ego, and a timely spotlight on a political agenda that is ever-present today. IM

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Manchester University Press