Hackney, ENGLAND

The East End of London is as famous for its colourful and sometimes shabby past as it is for its vibrant present. Hugenots, Jews, Bangladeshis and Cockneys have all made this part of London home over the past century and traces of each can still be found in its street names and buildings. Laure, after leaving Chicago and her turbulent past behind her, comes to settle in and amongst the many artists who've set up home and shop here...

Extract from Bitter Chocolate:

     The East End was nothing like the rest of London, she saw quickly. There was a gritty toughness that overlaid a warmth that took her completely by surprise. All of the world was here – tough-talking Cockneys whose accents she found impossible to follow; dread-locked, garrulous West Indians who reminded her of home; smooth-talking, suave West Africans, driving taxis and pretending to be lawyers. Further east, along the Commercial Road, there were women the likes of whom she’d never seen – diminutive, cloaked from head to toe, the occasional flash of a ruby nose-ring or the jangle of an earring showing slyly from within. Somalis, Pakistanis, Kurds, Arabs... she slowly began to distinguish between the various accents and garb.