Precious Metal

By Michelle Flatley

A modern day Romeo and Juliet set among immigrants working in the UK metal trade
'Michelle Flatley thrusts you into the real world of wrecked streets, ethnic tensions and all the petty oppressions that attend people who live in Britain's blighted communities, telling a truth only fiction can get to the heart of.' —Paul Mason, author and broadcaster
'Flatley shows how the reality of life in England does not match up to what the women had imagined it would be; and examines the tensions at work as her characters try to adjust to living in a new culture. The result is a tale that's harrowing and uplifting by turns.' —Follow The Thread on My Beautiful England
A small girl is mysteriously knocked down in a back street in Blackburn and the Asian community blames the new influx of Romanians. As the Romanians Dragos and Nikolae continue to collect metal to survive, tensions rise even further and the Romanian Café is burnt down. Dragos tells his son 'Copper is cash, metal is money,' but the dangers of the metal trade soon become apparent. When eighteen-year-old Nikolae falls in love with the shopkeeper's daughter, Zareen, (meaning gold in Urdu) two cultures collide. Eighteen-year-old Zareen is due to marry her cousin but continues to see the metal collector Nikolae. With their families divided can they be together and can two different communities ever live together in peace?
Praise for Michelle Flatley
'A fantastic book from start to finish that is filled with humour, sadness, violence, wonderful friendships, it's got it all!' —Heather Butterworth, Amazon.co.uk
'Michelle Flatley takes you on an emotional journey that will make you think about England and society in general.' —Amazon.co.uk
Precious Metal was inspired by images of young immigrants in the media, the industrial landscape of Blackburn and newspaper stories about the criminal metal trade in northern England. Download it now.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Salt
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781784630010

Michelle Flatley

Michelle Flatley lives in Lancashire and teaches English to Speakers of Other Languages. She has previously worked as a journalist and a community artist. Her first novel, My Beautiful England, was published in July 2013 by Cutting Edge Press and explores the lives of immigrants in northern England. Precious Metal was inspired by newspaper stories and the media coverage of Romanian immigrants.

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PRECIOUS METAL

A modern day Romeo and Juliet set among immigrants working in the UK metal trade

‘Michelle Flatley thrusts you into the real world of wrecked streets, ethnic tensions and all the petty oppressions that attend people who live in Britain’s blighted communities, telling a truth only fiction can get to the heart of.’ —PAUL MASON, author and broadcaster

‘Flatley shows how the reality of life in England does not match up to what the women had imagined it would be; and examines the tensions at work as her characters try to adjust to living in a new culture. The result is a tale that’s harrowing and uplifting by turns.’ —Follow The Thread on My Beautiful England

A small girl is mysteriously knocked down in a back street in Blackburn and the Asian community blames the new influx of Romanians. As the Romanians Dragos and Nikolae continue to collect metal to survive, tensions rise even further and the Romanian Café is burnt down. Dragos tells his son ‘Copper is cash, metal is money,’ but the dangers of the metal trade soon become apparent. When eighteen-year-old Nikolae falls in love with the shopkeeper’s daughter, Zareen, (meaning gold in Urdu) two cultures collide. Eighteen-year-old Zareen is due to marry her cousin but continues to see the metal collector Nikolae. With their families divided can they be together and can two different communities ever live together in peace?

Praise for Michelle Flatley

‘A fantastic book from start to finish that is filled with humour, sadness, violence, wonderful friendships, it’s got it all!’ —HEATHER BUTTERWORTH, Amazon.co.uk

‘Michelle Flatley takes you on an emotional journey that will make you think about England and society in general.’ —Amazon.co.uk

Precious Metal was inspired by images of young immigrants in the media, the industrial landscape of Blackburn and newspaper stories about the criminal metal trade in northern England.

MICHELLE FLATLEY has worked as a journalist in London, a community artist and now teaches English to Speakers of Other Languages in the north of England. Her first novel My Beautiful England was published by Cutting Edge Press in July 2013 and explores the lives of female immigrants in a deprived northern town. She also writes short stories and much of her writing is concerned with identity and social realities, in particular perceptions of immigrants and the position of women in Asian communities. She recently appeared on Sky Television to discuss challenges faced by migrants in the UK. Her sculptures of animals and characters from literature can be found in many schools in the North West.

Her novella Precious Metal was inspired by images of young immigrants in the media, the industrial landscape of Blackburn and newspaper stories about the criminal metal trade in northern England.

Published by Salt Publishing Ltd

12 Norwich Road, Cromer, Norfolk NR27 0AX

All rights reserved

Copyright © Michelle Flatley, 2014

The right of Michelle Flatley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Salt Publishing.

Salt Publishing 2014

Created by Salt Publishing Ltd

This book is sold subject to the conditions that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

ISBN 978-1-78463-001-0 electronic

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Acknowledgements

Chapter One

‘SO, NOW THE bloody Romanians are coming.’

Zareen Khan frowned and cast her father a disapproving look. ‘Abbu,’ she said, because she nearly always called her father this when he was angry, ‘people once said the same about us.’

Bilal Khan leant over the shop counter and waved a newspaper in his teenage daughter’s face. ‘This is different. We is British. These peoples is not the same as us. This town already has enough problems. Drink, drugs and no jobs. And now these dirty robbers come and take over our neighbourhood.’

Zareen whisked the paper from her father’s hand and began to laugh. ‘Don’t believe what you read in the papers, Abbu.’ She watched a shadow slowly creep over her father’s tired face. ‘Trust me. It won’t happen, this invasion.’

‘It already has,’ her father protested, his face swelling with rage. ‘Just because you are studying politics don’t mean you know everything girl. Give me that newspaper. I knows about people politics. There will be trouble. These thieving Europeans. I heard all about them. The government should send them back. They’ve already robbed Azrul’s store.’

Zareen rolled her eyes. ‘So, you want them to send the Romanians back?’ Zareen waited. Her father looked thoughtful for a moment. ‘Yes. It’s recession. Too many people milking the system. Yes, if it protects the business. YES!’

‘I have to go college.’ Zareen reached under the counter for her coat and shook her head. Her father continued on, shouting after her.

‘And don’t tell them Romanians where you living. Muhammad Iqbal said Blackburn College full of them.’ But Zareen had gone. There was just the sound of a shop bell tinkling and then his wife’s footsteps. When his wife appeared, Bilal read the newspaper headline again.

‘Thousands. It says thousands more will come.’ He folded the paper over and observed the ink printed on his hands. ‘That girl think she know everything,’ he said with a frown.

‘She does. About politics anyway,’ his wife chastised him.

‘She needs a firm hand, a husband to guide her. I think it’s time.’

Marika Khan turned away. ‘Not yet, she said softly. ‘She’s studying. Let’s wait.’

Bilal’s voice rose. ‘I see her changing. It’s this place. Wearing English