Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2002
Shortlisted for the Impac Dublin Literary Award 2004
‘Maggie Gee’s novel takes flight.’
New York Times
‘Finely judged and compulsively readable.’
The Guardian
‘A transcendent work.’
Daily Telegraph
Alfred White, a London park-keeper, rules his home with ferocity and tenderness. May, his clever wife, loves him but conspires against him. When Alfred collapses on duty, his beautiful daughter Shirley, who lives with Elroy, a black social worker, is brought face to face with her younger brother Dirk, who hates and fears all black people. The scene is set for violence. This ground-breaking novel takes on the taboo subject of race as it looks at love, hatred, sex, comedy and death in an ordinary British family.
‘A triumph of hope over despair, reconciliation over bitterness.’
The Independent
‘One of the year’s finest novels. It deserves the widest possible readership.’
Literary Review
‘Outstanding … tender, sexy and alarming.’
Jim Crace
SAQI