Shiraz is stuck on an estate in Goodmayes, Essex, with her sister Cava-Sue, her nightmare mum Diane and her loved-up mate Carrie. Hoodies, hip-hop and hanging about outside Claire's Accessories, taking her flatulent Staffy for a walk, lusting after local lad Wesley Barrington Baines II. It's a limited world for this loveable Essex dreamer. But when new English Teacher Miss Brackett arrives at Mayflower Academy, Shiraz is made to see there's more to life than getting excluded. It's time Shiraz began thinking what she wants to do with life. And what sort of person she wants to be. A lot of snooty folk call Shiraz Bailey Wood a chav. Well if by 'Chav' you mean 'Charming, Hilarious, Articulate and Vibrant', Shizza doesn't mind that at all.
September 2009 Guest Editor Joanna Nadin on Trainers versus Tiaras: Diary of a Chav by GRACE DENT
At the other end of Essex, Grace Dent’s Shiraz Bailey Wood has the kind of life Rachel Riley would give her Marks-And-Spencer-clad right arm for. Trainers v Tiaras is the first in this brilliant series, introducing us to potential prodigy Shiraz, her student sister Cava-Sue, obese Staffie Penny, and Superchav neighbour Uma Brunton-Fletcher. Oh, and Wesley Barrington Bains II – the Brad Pitt of Ilford.
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