This Lovely City

By Louise Hare

*As seen on the new BBC TWO TV book club, Between the Covers*

Longlisted for the HWA Debut Crown Award

Indie Book of the Month for March, selected by the Booksellers Association

One of OBSERVER’S 10 best debut novelists of 2020 / WOMAN & HOME Best of 2020 / EVENING STANDARD Best books of 2020 / MAIL ON SUNDAY 2020 Highlights / I Best of 2020

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‘Full of life and love . . . it made my heart soar, and should be on every Londoner’s shelf’ Stacey Halls, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Familiars

‘The writing is wonderful; London’s energy runs right through it; the characters leap off the page. I was truly sad to leave them behind’ Adam Kay, Observer

‘Convincing and involving’ Sunday Times

‘Fans of Zadie Smith and Andrea Levy won’t want to miss Louise Hare’s enthralling debut novel’ Elle

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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. 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.

Atmospheric, poignant and compelling, Louise Hare’s debut shows that new arrivals have always been the prime suspects. But, also, that there is always hope.
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MORE PRAISE FOR THIS LOVELY CITY:

‘I loved, loved, loved it’ Cathy Rentzenbrink, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Last Act of Love

‘Full to the brim with such complete joys and heart-aching tragedies . . . you can feel the warmth and colour emanating from the pages’ Magic Radio Book Club

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Mar 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9780008332587

Louise Hare

LOUISE HARE is a London-based writer and editor with an M.A. in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London. In 2016, her short story “The Odyssey of Dee Lennox” was shortlisted for the Just Write Creative Writing Competition, and in 2017 she was a finalist for the prestigious Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize. This Lovely City is her first novel. @LouRHare

Reviews for This Lovely City

[beamis12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It is 1950 and a worn torn Britain is lacking in able bodied men. Answering this call the Windrush docks with a new labor force. Problem is, that many consider them the wrong color and are not willing to openly accept them. When a body of a toddler of mixed race is found in the river, these men of color are the first to be questioned.Although the death of the child and the who done it gives it the air of mystery, this book is so much more. It is about prejudice and the effort it takes to be accepted, in some cases to never be accepted. It is also a love story between a mixed race girl and a young man from the Windrush. The plot is a long, unwinding of lives lived before and the lives to come. It is as much historical as it is suspense. It shows how easy it is to accuse without anything to back it up just because one is different. Easy to ruin lives with just an accusation. Even though this is set in the past, this is something that happens everyday. And unfortunately, will be unchanged in the future.