Book of the Month review: This Lovely City by Louise Hare
Here's the review for the Magic Book Club's March book of the month...
This month's Magic Book Club book of the month is This Lovely City by Louise Hare for Harper Collins. Want the lowdown to find out if it's the book for you? Look no further than this month's review!
This love story is full to the brim with such complete joys and heart-aching tragedies. Our protagonist, Lawrie Matthews, has landed in London as one of the infamous Windrush arrivals of 1948. Excited and emboldened at the prospect of a new life in the capital city, his initial optimism is met with harsh and surprising responses from commonplace community members and the prejudiced authorities. A talented Jazz musician, he’s job searching in the Clapham area, but after a series of rejections or muddled excuses from employers at degrading interviews, it feels as though he’s been rejected before he’s even sat down. London is bustling with energy but amongst the post-war shake up discrimination is commonplace and the severity is hard to bear.
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He secures a role as a postman but continues to moonlight as a musician. Soon enough, he falls for the girl next door, Evie. She’s welcoming and warm to new arrivals and her heart is wide open for Lawrie. But Evie’s upbringing has left her jaded; her mixed-race identity in the mid-century means she’s often felt like an outsider and unaccepted by even her mother. Free-falling in love, we follow their everyday story as destruction and drama threaten to take it all away. One ordinary day out on his bike, he stumbles across an unforgettable scene and the gut-wrenching discovery sends ripples through the neighbourhood. A bigoted and narrow-minded detective is soon at the door of the happy couple, and their plans for marriage, house, and babies are all on the line.
The story is absorbing and the encounters of institutional racism are real and emotive. The author was inspired by walks around Soho, archived images and sounds and some serious reading at The British Library. You can feel the warmth and colour emanating from the pages. In a time that strips back all the noise and nonsense we’re used to, this is a transporting debut novel with loveable characters and musical depth splattered across the pages.