When Yvette receives a call to say her estranged father Joe has been attacked in a seemingly random act of violence, she rushes to his side.
But when she arrives, she finds a man different to the larger-than-life father of her memories. Joe is broken, too scared to describe his attacker to the police, and seemingly haunted by memories of his past - memories he's fought to suppress.
About the boat journey that brought him and his wife Dolina to their new home in a hostile and unwelcoming Britain - as part of the Windrush Generation. About the secrets left behind in St Lucia... And about the darkest secret of all - the one that he has carried with him since stepping off the boat that cool, wet August day. As he fights for his life, he begs Yvette to find out what really happened on the last day of that crossing. Because, for forty years, Joe has believed that he killed a man. A man who had loved Dolina too. And who might hold the key to Yvette's own story...
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(@Bookouture, 21 May 2021, 309 pages, ebook, #ARC from the publisher via # NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed, #BlogTour 21 May)
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This is a new author for me. I really enjoyed This Other Island and would definitely read the author again. I've read other books that focus on characters who came to Britain as part of the Windrush Generation so I was on familiar ground. I enjoyed the way the book effortlessly moves between past and present as Yvette learns truth kept from her and her family for many years, truth that could tears her world to pieces. I loved the way the story develops keeping me flicking the pages. This is a great book.
