A powerful and poignant book. It was so shocking to read about segregation in the southern states in post WW2 US. Even schemes meant to benefit returning Afro-American WW2 veterans were denied to them by the southern states not adhering to government law. I have read a number of books set in the US during the pre abolition of segregation, however, my heart breaks every time to read how badly Afro-Americans were treated in the south, notably in Florida where this book was set. A very worthwhile book. A recommended read. I learnt new information.

Tammye Huf first novel, A More Perfect Union, won the Diverse Book Award in 2021, was longlisted for the Jhalak Prize, and was chosen as a BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick. It was a fabulous novel and had me keen to read her follow-up, The Colour of Home (to be called Inharmonious in the US).

Huf has taken the subject of black soldiers during the Second World War as the initial backdrop to her novel, and through the lives and loves of her cast of characters details a simple, yet beautiful story. The novel slowly expands it's scope, and you can feel Huf's fury at the way in which previous generations were treated by societal racism, a structural and systematic system designed to keep black people from obtaining housing.

The novel is split into short sections which makes the novel breeze by - I was most interested in the sections that take place in Wales, where her servicemen experience a different societal re-action than the one they receive at home. It is a novel drawn from experience of her family, and this gives it the ring of authenticity.

The Colour of Home then is a very fine novel, full of well drawn characters and period details, and one which I think a book club would get a lot out of in discussion. It is a great second novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

Such an intense experience I couldn’t put this book down and read it through the night. This is a story about love. And about hate, smallness and misplaced entitlement. Author Tammye Huf drew me into the rich lives of a community I fell in love with who whilst American enough to be conscripted are not allowed equal access to support after the second world war. These are extraordinary, brave, resourceful and inspiring people. I knew nothing about the deeply racist housing and loan policies of the Florida state finding ways to humiliate, degrade and exclude men and women despite the law, men and women who had fought for America and returned to segregation, slave wages and no opportunity. I was astonished by so much of the information I read about and was disgusted by the discrimination men and women faced from white Americans, particularly as they fought against a common enemy. As a British reader I was relieved that a Welsh community embraced the black GIs, (knowing the UK has a poor record on racism). The grace, patience, courage and love had me hoping for some peace and security for this community and deepened my knowledge of the lead up to the civil rights movement in America. Thank you to Tammye Huf for her beautiful book. This is a layered, complex examination of relationships with what it is to love, and how important it is to be seen as we are.

I devoured this book - it’s so well written and I loved the characters and the complexity of their stories.

Set in 1940s segregated Florida, it is brimming with history, injustice and love. Epic in scope but personal in detail, The Colour of Home transports the reader from the bombing of Pearl Harbour to the post war challenges of life for Black veterans in the south.

I fell head over heels for Cora, Benny and Lee - raging, crying and cheering for them to the final pages. One of the best books I’ve read this year.