Naomi Ishiguro

Writer Naomi Ishiguro talks about her debut novel of friendship across cultural divides in noughties England, Common Ground.

The novel tells of two friends, Stan and Charlie, from different backgrounds growing up and of the stresses on their characters and relationships caused by prejudice, inequality, and a hostile environment. They meet on the local common and Charlie teaches Stan to stand on his own two feet. Will their bond be strong enough to endure in a world that offers the two boys such different prospects.

Ishiguro is the daughter of the 2017 Nobel Laureate Kazuo Ishiguro. She has already published a selection of short stories, Escape Routes, described by The Sunday Times as ‘inventive tales that favour imagination over gritty realism’.