This Lovely City

February 1, 2020
In Hare's engrossing debut, a young Jamaican man's promising new life in post-World War II London threatens to unravel after he becomes a suspect in the death of a mixed-race infant. The lovely city that Lawrie Matthews expected when he arrived in 1948 onboard the Empire Windrush, along with several hundred other Caribbean immigrants responding to Britain's call for labor, turned out to be a war-ravaged metropolis "still too poor to clean itself up." But after two years, he is starting to feel at home despite the cold, gloomy atmosphere and humiliating racial slights. Renting a tiny room in Brixton, postman Lawrie moonlights as a jazz musician in Soho clubs, supplementing his income with black-market deliveries--rationing is still in effect--for his landlady's son. He also loves the girl next door, 18-year-old Evie Coleridge, the biracial daughter of the embittered white Agnes and an unknown black father. Life is good until the March morning when Lawrie discovers the body of a black child in a pond in Clapham Common. While the police quickly dismiss the other witness, a white woman walking her dog, Lawrie is harshly interrogated by the openly racist DS Rathbone. "Between you and me, I don't give two shits....Too many of you around here already, but the law is the law." He's determined to find the culprit, and whether it's Lawrie or someone else in the growing West Indian community makes no difference to him. Toggling between 1948 and 1950, Hare's absorbing narrative builds a compelling portrait of immigrants struggling to belong to a country that needs but doesn't really want them. Lawrie and Evie are so moving in their tender love for each other that readers will root for them to overcome the many heart-wrenching plot twists. A must-read for fans of Zadie Smith and Call the Midwife.

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April 1, 2020

DEBUT Hare's first novel shares the experience of Jamaican immigrant Lawrie Matthews in postwar London as he tries to build a future for himself and as England tries to rebuild itself as a country. Lawrie attempts to make a respectable living as a postman by day and fulfill his passion for music by playing jazz gigs at night. Burning the candle at both ends, he also wants to start a family. He finds companionship with his neighbor Evie, though she may be keeping secrets from him. He has secrets of his own, and when he makes a gruesome discovery one day, it completely upsets their world and reveals the stories they wish they never had to tell. It also exposes the immigrant community to their new country's harsh opinions about race, gender, and interpersonal relationships. VERDICT A compelling read that, though set 70 years ago, has timely and identifiable themes. Romance, intrigue, and history all come together in this novel that tells a story of hope amidst struggle.--Anne M. Miskewitch, Schaumburg Twp. Dist. P.L., IL

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2020
Answering England's call for postwar workers, musician Lawrie Matthews sails from Jamaica in 1948 aboard the Empire Windrush. He settles in South London working as a postman by day and playing music in jazz clubs at night. He rents a room in a boarding house, making friends and falling in love with girl-next-door Evie. But Lawrie's deepening sense of community is shattered when he discovers the body of a child floating in the fountain at a local park. As police work to solve the case the neighborhood's once-welcomed immigrants find themselves quickly under suspicion. Cultural tensions are soon running high, and the case and its repercussions threaten to tear the community apart. Based on the true story of the "Windrush generation," Hare's debut is both a detailed and fascinating examination of postwar English history. With well-crafted characters and a mystery that will keep readers guessing, This Lovely City tells the story of a group of people searching for a place to belong and discovering the power of persistence and hope to carry them through.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)