I really wanted to love this book but I’m afraid that I couldn’t. The topic regarding the Windrush generation and the racism they endured made for difficult reading alongside a different writing style meant that I couldn’t enjoy the story of Lawrie and Evie as much as I wanted to. Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

Review
Lawrie has travelled on HMT Empire Windrush from Jamaica to the UK to help rebuild England in 1948 following the war. Looking forward to his new life, he isn’t prepared for the racism he encounters. Nor that nothing is prepared for their arrival so that the travellers, tired and cold, have to live in war bunkers.

Lawrie finds work by day as a postman and by night as a jazz musician in Soho. He has lodgings in South London where he falls in love with the girl next door, Evie.

This book tells us of Lawrie’s daily struggles. It’s hard to read, to believe that people can be treated so appallingly and that they suffered racism like this. I found the book an eye opener although not very much of a story.

I rate this book 2 stars 🌟🌟

Thanks
Thank you to the author and publishers HQ for an advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for an independent review.

This was a difficult read. Beautifully written, great characterisation and an unflinching look at the difficulties that the Windrush generation had settling in the UK, I found it almost unbearable at times because of what the characters have to endure at the hands of institutionalised racism and individual bigotry. This is a love story, but goodness, it's also a test for those whose love does not 'fit'. It also tackles the idea of what makes up a family and how shame and love can become messily and dangerously entwined.

The drinks are flowing.
The music is playing.
But the party can’t last.

This lovely city is a beautiful but heart-breaking book by Louise Hare.

Set just a few years after the end of the second world, This lovely city takes you on a journey around the streets of post war London.

Lawrie Matthews has made London his home after traveling across the world on the Windrush ship. He has also fallen head over heels for the girl next door Evie.

This lovely city grabs you from the very first page and doesn't let you go. It's quite hard reading what Lawrie and Evie go thought in the book. There is some happy moments for the couple.

In all 'This Lovely city' is an amazing book which I will be recommending to all my friends and family, I will also be looking out for the next book by Louise Hare.

A fascinating read about the Windrush generation who come to London after the war. In search of a new life, they encounter poverty racism and more. This is a very timely read given the fact that the Windrush scandal has been in the news recently.

The story follows Lawrie who moves from Jamaica. He works as a postman and at night, the world of jazz and music come alive as we follow his time as an newly arrived immigrant. The new life takes some adjustment too but he copes well - it’s everyone else who seems to have a problem with ‘people like him’.

There’s another thread at the same time about a young mixed race woman who has been born and brought up in London by her white mother. With overtones of multiculturalism, racism and human endurance, this is one powerful read. This is a different time to now: we are in the 1940s in the novel, but in many ways it’s very similar. That is the sad thing. You could take the Windrush references and the references to music, politics etc and this could easily be a story in the modern day. Prejudice and discrimination have lingered throughout time and this is the sad realisation of the novel. How we treated people who were granted the chance to start afresh.

There’s one incident in the book in particular where they are tested to the limit. This was very revealing in how the public and police treated ‘outsiders’. This is when the book felt very sadly real.

Having said that, this is also a novel of hope, human endurance and there’s quite a bit of humour here too. There’s a wonderful cast of characters who just jump from the page. And for a music/jazz lover like me, this was a cool chance to experience post-war London and the music which came from the Caribbean. I am still tapping my toes to it.

Recommended. I think this wlil provide a lot of discussion at bookclubs!

Ah, this lovely book! Set in 1948 and 1950, this tale of Windrush immigrants as they struggle to fit in with British life, really hits the spot. The characters come to life on the page and the story emerges slowly but compellingly. It is a tale of racial tensions and social restraints that weaves backwards and forwards between the two dates. But it is also a tale of love and hope, secrets and lies and changes. Beautifully written, the characters are well-rounded and post-war London brims with life and anticipation.

this is a touching book that puts the reader in its own pages. It is a necessary story, in wake of the windrush scandal, with an authors voice who is necessary. thank you Louise Hare for writing this book.

‘This Lovely City’ could be described as a murder mystery novel but that title alone would be to belie its author’s purpose to educate the reader about the daily discrimination dealt West Indians who, after the Second World War, emigrated to the UK, with the promise of a better life whilst helping to rebuild the motherland. Particularly now that the scandalous ways in which the Windrush generation has been treated have come to light, this is an essential read for anyone wishing to understand just how difficult it was to become an accepted member of this post-war society.
Persistent, every day racism is at the centre of the story. And it is not only black people who are treated disgracefully. White mother Agnes Coleridge has a mixed-race daughter and no husband. Not only does she have to use the title ‘Mrs’ in order not to be ostracised by neighbours but she also feels isolated because of her daughter’s skin colour. This, in turn, has affected the nature of her relationship with Evie who always feels as if she isn’t really wanted. Evie is one of the few who welcomes the arrival of West Indians to her area of south London; at last, she does not feel entirely different.
When Lawrie, a recently arrived immigrant, and Evie fall in love, marriage is their goal. Evie has her mother’s blessing; the latter knows from experience that no white man will look at her. Besides, Lawrie is all that one could wish for in a son-in-law: kind, considerate, hardworking, sensitive and loving. However, the couple are soon entangled in an investigation into infanticide, presided over by the bigoted, persistent and cruel DI Rathbone.
Louise Hare has created an entirely convincing environment, bringing the shabbiness of post-war London to life through her depiction of the terraced houses, the clubs, the bus rides and the work places. Most of her characters are also credible. It may seem that Hare has shied away from exploring further the difficult mother-daughter relationship in the final pages. However, this is psychologically appropriate (if frustrating for the reader), given the situation, and reinforces just how damaging institutional racism is and how it permeates every part of life. Elements of Lawrie and Evie’s ‘new life’ feels a little contrived and somewhat too good to be true in terms of the lovers’ lodgings. However, Hare’s first novel has much to recommend itself and foggy, threadbare, racist London lingers long after the last page has been turned.
My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

This is the story of Lawrie Matthews who arrives on the Windrush from Jamaica just after the second World War. He has come to London in the hope of finding work and a better life but quickly becomes aware that he has been disillusioned about what his new life brings. London just after the war is dirty and impoverished and finding a home and a job is not easy. He eventually does settle in London near Clapham Common and finds a job as a postman and falls in love with the girl next door who is of mixed race. He also plays in a band in the evening and makes a bit of extra money delivering goods on the black market for his landladies’ son. He thinks things are looking up until an incident tears his world apart and life becomes more sinister for him and his friends.

I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy this book but it draws you in. The central characters, Lawrie and his girlfriend, Evie, are lovely as are many of their friends. I had never considered the plight of the Windrush generation so I found this a real eye opener in terms of injustices that they suffered because of the colour of their skin. The corruption of the police in this story was almost unbelievable, but I imagine the immigrants were not well treated and so this side of the story seemed quite realistic. I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a well written story of love and friendship with some well portrayed characters. I would recommend reading this.

After I finished This Lovely City, Louise Hare appeared in a Guardian newspaper feature on the top ten debut writers in 2020. It is a deserved accolade. The novel really moved me, in its' evocation of Afro-Caribbean lives in London. My maternal grandfather came over from Guyana before the Windrush, and had four daughters with a Welsh white woman, living in London. The experience of growing up black and mixed-race in Britain is a scarring one, but what really comes across is the resilience of Lawrie and Evie. Just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Lawrie is scapegoated in the worst possible way by both Rose and the deeply unpleasant policeman, Rathbone. Hare upends the cliche of Afro-Caribbean family breakdown, and creates a wonderful sense of family in Lawrie, his bandmates, Aston and Evie. A must read.

This is a wonderful book set in London in 1948 – 50 and basically about some of the passengers from the “Empire Windrush”. Although WW2 has been over for a few years there is still widespread rationing and many bombsites, leading to a shortage of housing. The British government decided that more manpower was needed due to wartime casualties so they offered cheap passage to England for men from the Caribbean. However, the men who arrived found that little provision had been made for housing them and jobs were difficult to find, especially skilled ones.

Against this background, Lawrie, Aston, Sonny, Moses and others struggle to integrate and support themselves and their families. There are those who prey on these desperate men and, a very few, who help them. Many of these men find solace in music, drink and drugs, but most of them try to work hard and keep their heads down. Discrimination against people of other races/colours/religions is rife in certain circles and these people tend not to be given the benefit of the doubt. When a dead child is discovered in a pond on Clapham Common suspicion immediately falls on the local coloured people. The story includes flashbacks to show how people arrived at their current situations and to suggest a number of different culprits. The story builds to a climax with a satisfying twist at the end.

Highly recommended.

Not my usual type of book but I started it and I loved it! An easy, quite quick read that I’d definitely recommend

I really loved this book. The main characters are appealing, and I was completely drawn into the story. I found it hard to put down, and I will definitely be recommending it.

I was lucky enough to receive an early copy of #ThisLovelyCity to read and review via #NetGalley and what a treat I had in store. I read it over one weekend as I was so keen to stay with the story and find out what happens.
Set in the late 1940s, it follows the story of a young man who came to London on the Windrush from Jamaica, and a young mixed race woman who was born and brought up by her single white mother in Brixton.
The descriptions of the time were believable and atmospheric, along with the shocking stories of discrimination, violence and suspicion faced by those coming to the UK to make a new life. Thinking they were responding to a call for patriotic citizens to come and fill the postwar labour shortage, they faced racism and poverty. Although sad and shocking in parts, there was also hope, love and fun within the pages. The characters were believable and well written.
I really liked this book and I think it would make an excellent book club read, as there are so many different things to discuss.

This Lovely City is a beautifully written, atmospheric novel set just after the Second World War, switching between 1498 when the first Windrush immigrants arrived and two years later.

Lawrie has emigrated to Britain after the death of his brother during the war. He is expecting the England of his brother's lettes, the England of childhood books and films, instead he finds a broken bombed out city whose people are ground down by austerity and rationing. Far from being embraced as pioneers helping to rebuild London, Lawrie and his friends finds themselves eyed with suspicion, ostracised and turned away from jobs.

Two years later things are looking up, he has settled into a small boarding house with other Windrush men, and is falling in love with the Evie, the girl next door. He has found work as a postman and plays in a band by night, saving up in the hope of asking Evie to marry him. To help with the extra cash, he also does a little delivery work for his landlady's son who has a lucrative side business in black-market goods. Whilst out delivering stockings, Lawrie is approached by a frantic woman who has seen something in a pond on Clapham common and he finds himself retrieving the body of a dead baby, a baby whose his skin matches his own.

The discovery of the baby draws police attention to the small community of Windrush men, and Lawrie who can't explain his presence on the common without giving away his black-market activities, finds himself under increasing suspicion with a sideline of police brutality. Meanwhile Evie, Lawrie's girlfriend, who has always struggled growing up as an illegitimate mixed race child, finds it harder and harder to navigate a London where she has always been different and seen as a source of shame for her mother. Racial tensions, already simmering, heat up with every headline and secrets hidden for the last two years start to unravel as the police investigations get closer and closer to home.

This Lovely City is an absorbing exploration of the years following Windrush, and the lives of the people who sailed away from their homes with hope for a new start and the stark reality of what faced them. It's also horrifyingly timely as scandal after scandal about the status of Windrush generation is uncovered and racial tensions are once more in the headlines, as the country struggles with the rise of a populism that Laurie would recognise all too well. Reading this book in that context is chilling and important. Highly recommended.

Louise Hare has written a wonderful, poignant novel about a Jamaican man living in postwar England and the girl next door in South London. The promised welcome for the men who arrived on the Windrush is non existent and young, sweet natured Lawrie, navigates daily racism as he works as a postman by day and a musician by night. Lawrie has fallen in love with Evie, his South London neighbour and there, at least, seems the potential for happiness. That is, until Lawrie makes a horrible discovery on Clapham Common. The vulnerability felt, both socially and in the eyes of the law, as a black person in England at that time comes across powerfully in Louise Hare’s novel. We hear both Lawrie and Evie’s voice as the story develops, the time structure flipping between 1948 and a couple of years later. All of the difficulties Lawrie and Evie experience are caused or compounded by racism. The story has a few good surprises up its sleeve and the author has succeeded in finding some hope and joy in what might have been a bleak story. She has empathy and insight into all her characters and I highly recommend This Lovely City.

Incredible book. I would definitely recommend. The story pulls you in right from start while still being a fairly easy and quick read (given that you have some time). I enjoyed the characters and enjoyed learning about them. I would definitely read again.

Many thanks to @HQStories and Netgalley for the early eBook review, I was delighted to receive it.

I loved the book! Lawrie and Evie are absolutely adorable and, for once, I enjoyed the company of all the characters most closely related to them.

It is a story set in the late 1940s yet somehow feels perfectly contemporary as we go through Lawrie (and his mates) trials and tribulations as they grow accustomed to life in London, being newly arrived from Jamaica. One year on, he’s getting by, peacefully at best, what with having a steady job, a lovely home (and landlady 💗), a great girlfriend and being an accomplished musician at a band, playing gigs in Soho almost every night.

Then, something very unfortunate (to say the least) happens and it shooks him to the core, along with everyone else in the vicinity. We also get a small glimpse of police (and society, as a whole) treatment of immigrants and it is this bit which feels more like reality as we know it.

It is a beautifully written novel and I’d recommend it to everyone who’s interested in stories set in post-war London and that talk about immigration and race but is also really about friendship and companionship.

I really wanted to like this book - the idea of the topic was very pertinent and highly alluring. Sadly I found the style of writing to be very disjointed and the storyline was too slow for my liking. A big disappointment.

I really enjoyed this book. Set in more simple - and ignorant - times, this story really hits home and brings the plight of the Windrush generation to life. A very sad story really but has its story of hope running through.