Synopsis (Credit: www.amazon.co.uk)

It is 1948, and England is recovering from a war. But at 21 Nevern Street, London, the conflict has only just begun.

Queenie Bligh's neighbours do not approve when she agrees to take in Jamaican lodgers, but Queenie doesn't know when her husband will return, or if he will come back at all. What else can she do? Gilbert Joseph was one of the several thousand Jamaican men who joined the RAF to fight against Hitler. Returning to England as a civilian he finds himself treated very differently. It's desperation that makes him remember a wartime friendship with Queenie and knock at her door. Gilbert's wife Hortense, too, had longed to leave Jamaica and start a better life in England. But when she joins him she is shocked to find London shabby, decrepit, and far from the golden city of her dreams. Even Gilbert is not the man she thought he was ...

Winner: Costa Book of the Year 2004.
Winner: Orange Prize for Fiction 2004.
Winner: Commonwealth Writers' Best Book 2005.
Shortlist: National Book Critics Circle Fiction 2005.
On the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die List.

(Bought second-hand at Book Wise Exchange, High Street, Bellville.)

This book certainly deserves all the accolades that have come its way.

The author depicts the circumstances before, during and after World War II as experienced and told by four voices. It is fascinating how the same situation is viewed totally differently by those living it. And no character is one-dimensional: all of them are portrayed with human complexity.

A serious topic, serious times, yet the brilliant and accutely observed humour throughout makes it an enjoyable, thought provoking read.

Passed on to Izikhova.

Received the book from Stoepbrak, hope to read it before Christmas.