Peckham in Person

by Hylda Sims

(ebook, £4.30)

HYLDA SIMS writes of a world uncomplicated by mobile phones, social media networks, excessive surveillance and the total war on the poor and vulnerable of our present times.

But Peckham in Person is still a relevant and resonant story of confusing relationships, vulnerability, deprivation and loss.

Set in the 1990s in the much-maligned and occasionally lampooned south London inner city area, Sims allows the reader to experience the place through the intermeshed life trajectories of three of its residents. 

What they have in common is a need to express themselves honestly and find a truer voice than that imposed upon them by a sometimes harsh society.

Brian is a timid and muddled middle-aged man until he seeks liberation through poetry — plus the help of his more robust alter ego, Oscar.

Lorna is a special needs teacher whose life is falling apart as her musical career tapers away and her lovers prove to be boorish and insensitive. Yet music remains a vital mouthpiece for her.

Jet is the illiterate leader of a mini-gang whose respect for Lorna makes him review his dismissive views on Brian and who in turn learns to write through practising haikus.

As each character shapes the other, Sims presents us with a place that is raw and poor. But it also one which is vital and dynamic. 

Sims knows this patch so well that she avoids heavy-handed, compensatory hyper-reality. Peckham just naturally emerges through the three characters and their encounters with one another and various third parties.

The one slightly contrived and rather regrettable element in this otherwise realistic novel is mercifully positioned in the last chapter, which views Peckham from on high at an angel’s-eye view. 

While this nod to William Blake has its interest, it serves to obfuscate rather than illuminate the poetry of the people themselves and their histories somewhat.

Paul Simon