White Trash is the fifth novel by English author John King, first published in 2001 by

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...

. The paperback edition of the book, released by

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, carries the following quote by

Alan Sillitoe Alan Sillitoe Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, FRSL (4 March 192825 April 2010) was an English writer and one of the so-called "angry young men" of the 1950s. He disliked the label, as did most of the other writers to whom it was appl ...

, author of ''

Saturday Night And Sunday Morning ''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning'' is the first novel by British author Alan Sillitoe and won the Author's Club First Novel Award. It was adapted by Sillitoe into a 1960 film starring Albert Finney, directed by Karel Reisz, and in 1964 was ...

'', on its cover: "Complete and unique, all stitched up and marvellous, the two sides of the equation brought together, realistic yet philosophical." The quote also appears on the US edition of the novel (2016), which includes an introduction by the author—"From Cradle to Grave".

Synopsis

Set in an unnamed new town on the outskirts of London, ''White Trash'' records the world as seen through the eyes of a hard-working ward nurse, Ruby James, and the remote, at times almost ghostly, administrator Jonathan Jeffreys, who drifts through her hospital. Their paths rarely cross, but the calculating outlook of Jeffreys begins to have terrible ramifications, and Ruby eventually becomes entangled in his web. Working-class Ruby manages to keep her dignity, sense of humour, and sanity despite a life of daily struggle that includes wrestling with the pain of having a mother with

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. Her unfailingly positive and inclusive take on life is in stark contrast to the exclusive viewpoint of the handsomely paid Jeffreys, who spends his hours in the glow of a computer screen and prefers the company of statistics to human beings. Jeffreys' existence is based on cold reason, elitism, and an obsession with the rationing of healthcare that leads him to make extreme life-and-death decisions. Ruby's is about touch, feel, and emotion, treating her patients with respect while living out her unspoken belief that everyone has an equal right to care and attention. In an interview in ''Nursing Times'',Nursing Times, London, 11 October 2001, vol 97, No 41, p27 King said: "The point of ''White Trash'' is that there is no white trash. Everyone is worth something and no-one can be dismissed. That's what we have to remember when it comes to the

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." He calls the novel, "A defence of the NHS." The book also considers the lives of a range of characters who are considered worthless by the establishment, but who actually offer far more to society than those who look down on them. Through these vignettes, as well as the main focus on the contrasts between Ruby James and Jonathan Jeffreys, King establishes that everyone should be valued, no matter their background, age, or condition. In the process, a vibrant culture of expression and experience is celebrated.

Reception

Reviewing the novel for ''The Independent'', Mat Coward wrote: "The cumulative effect of King's style is astonishingly powerful in its detail and depth. A quarter of a century after punk rock, the core punk ethos — of a robust and adaptable form of resistance, based on inclusive, DIY community-making and a concentration on immediacy — is still inspiring some of our most vital writers. An immensely timely and necessary book: stylish, witty and passionate. It's about time someone slapped the smugness from the face of broadsheet Britain." ''Big Issue North'' called ''White Trash'' "A state of the nation book."

References

{{John King 2001 British novels Novels by John King (author) White culture in the United Kingdom Works about White Europeans Jonathan Cape books