In Adah Obi’s council flat at the Pussy Mansions, problems are rife. Mould coats the walls of her room and those of her five children. The stairway is soaked with urine. A local kid steals the milk. Reliant on paraffin heaters – Coalite is far too expensive – she leaves her home at risk of fire.
In Buchi Emecheta’s semi-autobiographical debut novel, which was first published in 1972, she puts the welfare system of the day under harsh examination. But Emecheta isn’t interested in self-pity. On arrival at the Mansions, Adah is introduced to her new neighbours, and in them she finds an unlikely community. “Mrs O’Brien and the Princess smiled their welcome into the ditch-dwellers’ cult. She joined the ditch-dwellers’ association.” You can almost picture the club’s pin badges.
