by Andrea Levy
First published 2006
Gilbert Joseph arrives in London in 1948 as part of the first wave of immigration from former British colonies. The Jamaican veteran served as a volunteer in the RAF during the war, but he cannot find his place on his home island. He sees his future in Britain, the legendary mother country that looms large in the imagination of his countrymen. His newly married wife Hortense soon joins him in England. They stay with Quennie Blight, a woman Gilbert knew during wartime. Quennie has been waiting two years for her husband Bernard, who vanished without a trace after demobilization. But England greets its former soldiers far less warmly now than it once did. The story unfolds through numerous flashbacks that reveal the past lives of these four characters, weaving together themes of postwar immigration, love, and racial prejudice against the backdrop of a changing Britain.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, adult-fiction
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Britain, England, Jamaica, London
Period: 1948, Postwar
512 pages · Paperback · Albatros
Content warnings: racism