REVIEWERS’ RAVES for A Language in Common…

‘Marion Molteno’s stories concern one community and her relationship with it that has been sustained and practical over the years… Their chief and overwhelming characteristic is her compassion and her talent for sensitive perception.’ - Anita Desai

‘Marion Molteno has written the most extraordinary book if short stories - one of the first attempts to straddle in fiction the social divide between white Britons and Asians… Her compassion never degenerates into patronising sentimentality, and her sensitive perceptions come from a decade of getting to know her characters.’
- The Independent

‘Written with honesty, determination, and purpose… It is beautiful and wise’ - City Limits

‘Charged with insight and compassion. Recommended.’ - Times Educational Supplement

‘The overwhelming characteristic of her writing is her talent for sensitive perception… What she says is of importance, of value, to our society and to our time’
- Anita Desai

‘Powerful portraits… she has a remarkable understanding of the characters and their conditions’
- Sunday Times of India
‘The most extraordinarily revealing book’
- Far Eastern Economic Review

Marion Molteno grew up in South Africa, which she left as a political exile at the height of the apartheid era. She has worked and lived in many parts of Africa, and since 1977 has lived in London. She has pioneered community education projects with ethnic minorities and refugees, and is the author of several books on language, culture and education. Marion Molteno is currently Education Adviser for Save the Children.