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White Noise Ballrooms

Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
White Noise Ballrooms transports readers to a turbulent northern English city during the winter of 1978, a time marked by societal upheaval on the brink of the Thatcher era. Amidst the chilling threat of the Yorkshire Ripper and rampant gang violence, a group of teenagers seek refuge in the frenetic energy of punk rock, gathering in decaying hotel ballrooms and underground clubs. This immersive novel exposes the raw realities of urban chaos and youthful rebellion through a gripping first-person narrative.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for readers interested in gritty historical fiction, punk culture, and stories that explore social unrest during late 20th-century Britain.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

A novel of England in the 1970s and a group of teens trying to use the punk-rock scene to figure out what’s next for them and their nation.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

“The devil is at our heels . . . . at the heart of the city’s aberrations.”

Picture a lost city in northern England during the momentous winter of 1978—the final winter before the onset of the Thatcher era, at the peak of the punk rock movement. A notorious serial killer—the Yorkshire Ripper—terrorises the city’s women, unhindered by an aimless police force. Violent outbursts of gang warfare transect the city’s streets while an immense insane asylum overlooks the chaos from the outskirts.

This innovative and disturbing novel follows a group of teens as they engulf themselves in punk-rock cacophonies and the accompanying riots that erupt in the city’s decrepit hotel ballrooms and subterranean nightclubs. Written in a captivating, immersive first-person voice that meshes raw corporeality and urban insurgency, White Noise Ballrooms deploys recent history to piercingly illuminate the contemporary moment.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9783035800302

Publisher: Diaphanes AG

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 15 August 2018

Country: Switzerland

Imprint: Diaphanes AG

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 127.0mm

Height: 203.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 224

About the Author

Stephen Barber is professor of art history at Kingston University in London and a research fellow of the Free University Berlin. He is the author of numerous books, including, most recently, Berlin Bodies: Anatomising the Streets of the City.

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