Published : 12th March 2020
Publisher : HQ
Format : Kindle, Paperback
Genre : Historical Fiction
Synopsis
The drinks are flowing. The music is playing. But the party can’t last.
With the Blitz over and London reeling from war, jazz musician Lawrie Matthews has answered England’s call for help. Fresh off the Empire Windrush, he’s taken a tiny room in south London lodgings, and has fallen in love with the girl next door.
Touring Soho’s music halls by night, pacing the streets as a postman by day, Lawrie has poured his heart into his new home – and it’s alive with possibility. Until, one morning, he makes a terrible discovery.
As the local community rallies, fingers of blame are pointed at those who had recently been welcomed with open arms. And, before long, the newest arrivals become the prime suspects in a tragedy which threatens to tear the city apart.
My Review
Thank you HQ for this lovely proof copy that I was given at your fantastic New Fiction event in January.
This was such a lovely read. I adore historical fiction and this one did not disappoint.
I found myself thrown into 1950’s London, full of post war jazz and nostalgia. This story tells of Laurie and Evie. A couple in love, all seems to be going well until Laurie, being in the wrong place and wrong time finds a dead body in a pond and sends a ripple of panic through an already fractured community. This then leads into a murder investigation that Laurie and Evie both end up getting caught up in.
Laurie, being Caribbean is always trying to keep his head above water, stay out of trouble whilst trying to make it in the big London city, not something that is easily done in a racist and discriminatory time when even the people you are meant to be able trust in power let you down all because of your skin colour and race.
For what should be a new era, new time for change by inviting people from far to come, sail for miles and live in this city to start a happier life with endless possibilities, it ends up causing social dislike and mistrust for the locals and making there dreams not quite what they believed.
I would never have guessed the twist that came with this one, it was quite a shock, I felt myself completely immersed in this story and could truly place myself back in a post WW11 London.
I loved reading about Laurie and Evie’s love and even though they had their ups and downs their true love kept them together, even though it was tested to its limits.
If you adore a historical love story with a murder mystery twist then this is definitely the book for you. Louise Hare picks you up and sweeps you off around an old London world filled with musical jazz and love.
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Meet the author
Louise Hare is a London-based writer and has an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London.
Originally from Warrington, the capital is the inspiration for much of her work, including This Lovely City, which began life after a trip into the deep level shelter below Clapham Common.
This Lovely City is her debut novel.
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