This book was longlisted for the Booker, but it isn’t at all highbrow and hard to read (or in my case, listen to), in fact, I was totally gripped by it. As an audiobook, it is what I listen to when out running or walking mostly, and this book made me want to take really long walks, and then go straight out for more walks so I could listen some more! It reminded me somewhat of the book (or perhaps even more so, the tv series) of Little Fires Everywhere, as it was mostly about a rich white woman (Alix) employing a poorer black girl (Emira) and the intense dynamic of that relationship. The book begins with the black girl, who was the family’s child minder, being called away from a birthday party to help them out in an emergency by taking their three year old daughter out of the house for a time while they dealt with it. She goes with the child to the local grocery store (as all parents know, you can kill time with a small child in almost any shop, just looking at stuff) but because she is a black girl dressed up for a party with a white child in a rich neighbourhood, she is suspected of kidnapping the child and detained in the store until they can get the child’s father to come and sort it out. The family is horrified, but Emira just wants to forget it as she is sadly used to this kind of racism. This sets the tone for the book which is written with beauty and cleverness and wit, and great character development and the plot had me gasping and desperate to keep listening to what on earth was going to happen next!
Sarah Wray Writer 