Combining the history of East End London with personal quest, this book weaves together Lichtenstein's quest for Rodinsky - which took her to Poland, Israel and around Jewish London - with Iain Sinclair's meditations on her journey into her own past.

Based on a major three-year research project, this book makes clear how planners have frequently failed to understand real human needs. It also provides a portrait of the resilience and generosity of spirit which went at least some way to compensate for the deprivations of inner-city working-class life.

Sally is 25, and somebody wants to destroy her. She receives divorce papers from a man she has never met, let alone married - yet this trap is so well laid that she is powerless to prove otherwise. When custody of her daughter is awarded to this evil stranger, it is the beginning of a terrifying struggle in which Sally will have to fight.

A garrulous prostitute. A Jewish boxer. The mysterious death of a father ... and the origins of the modern stock market.