Smallie by Eden McKenzie-Goddard review
In this warm and tender debut, the family of Barbados-born Lucinda must try to document her decades in Britain after the Home Office threatens her with deportation
TL;DR
- The novel "Smallie" by Eden McKenzie-Goddard addresses the Windrush scandal by focusing on Lucinda Brown, a Barbadian immigrant facing deportation from Britain.
- The narrative alternates between Lucinda's past experiences in 1961 London, marked by disillusionment and hardship, and her present-day struggle to prove her right to remain.
- The book critiques the bureaucratic system that can erase decades of an individual's life and contributions, reducing them to "administrative errors."
- It explores themes of identity, belonging, and the fragility of legal status for immigrants.
- The novel also touches on contemporary political echoes, including a character who is a Conservative MP with anti-immigration views.
- McKenzie-Goddard's prose is described as lyrical and assured, with moments of brilliance and the use of Caribbean dialect adding warmth.