Paperbacks: On Brick Lane, by Rachel Lichtenstein

The story of a street as palimpsest, On Brick Lane tells the long and complicated history of London's famous tourist hotspot/ Bangladeshi community/ Jewish textiles sweatshop from the point of view of the people who think they own it.

As an illustration of the joys and sorrows of multicultural Britain it is intriguing and sometimes sad. As a sign above the synagogue-turned-mosque reads: "Umbra Sumus." We Are Shadows.