The Squeeze: (Salt Modern Fiction)

Set between 1989 and the downfall of Ceaușescu, and 2013, The Squeeze travels between Edinburgh, Romania and Oslo and sees this ­multi‑award-winning and bestselling author at the height of her powers. Marta, a teenager trafficked from Romania in the early 1990s is forced to work as a prostitute in Edinburgh. Mats, a Norwegian businessman, who longs only to be a good husband and father, becomes involved with Marta and both their lives are wrenched – for good or ill – in new directions. Told in a splintered narrative style that allows glimpses into several points of view, The Squeeze explores the transactions that take place between men and women. Sex, money and the desire for love, are at its heart.

About the Author :
Lesley Glaister is the prize-winning author of thirteen novels, most recently, Little Egypt. Her short stories have been anthologised and broadcast on Radio 4. She has written drama for radio and stage and published a pamphlet of poetry 2015. Lesley is a Fellow of the RSL, teaches creative writing at the University of St Andrews and lives in Edinburgh.

Review :
The Squeeze has the pace and plot points of a thriller, and the tension rarely ebbs. It’s also sharply written, and Glaister’s corvid eye for squalor grounds her story skilfully in the queasy humdrum even as the drama ratchets up. This is not an easy novel to read and it can’t have been the easiest to write. But Glaister has never shied away from a challenge, and she never disappoints. She may not be the most high-profile writer of her generation, and her unflinching approach to difficult subject matter may be part of the reason for that. But she deserves to be better known. The Squeeze is not an easy read, not only because of the squalid world where it is set. Glaister’s episodic format has been described as ‘splintered’, a sound adjective for her jagged shards of narrative which jump between past and present settings and tenses. It’s tense and challenging, but we care just enough about Mats and Marta to persist. The ride is a roller-coaster of horror, heroism, violence, love, despair and hoped-for redemption – exhausting, but enriching nonetheless and a journey well worth risking. Another cliché, ‘a haunting narrative’, attaches itself to the The Squeeze: it is particularly powerful read against the current political climate, bringing a whole new gravitas to the cliché of global village. It takes the reader well beyond their comfort zone, but it is every bit worth the discomfort. This book covers such subjects as sex trafficking post Berlin Wall, marriage, relationships, family ties and criminal underworlds. It was an really intriguing, engaging read and has prompted me to buy pretty much all of Lesley Glaister’s back catalogue. No lie.