Royals, by Emma Forrest

Aspiring fashion designer Steven lives in London’s East End with his Jewish martyr mother, abusive alcoholic father and two brothers. He is the odd fish out, already marked as gay even though he ‘hasn’t decided yet’. In hospital he meets West End girl Jasmine, an ‘it’ girl with family problems of her own. She entrances Steven and inspires him to transcend Thatcher’s Britain and realise his dreams. Set in the summer of 1981, around the wedding of Charles and Diana, the music and fashion references are a lot of fun. The story has echoes of milliner Philip Treacy and his muse Isabella Blow, although the abrupt ending makes it more a tale of what could have been. Forrest evokes a time and culture that strongly resonates; Steven is sympathetic and believable, Jasmine a little less so. It’s an easy read, sad and funny with some insights into issues of wealth and class and the troubles of teens, regardless of where they come from.