Soon Come

by Kuba Shand-Baptiste

London. In one tiny Caribbean restaurant, three friends try to build a future in a country that refuses to see them.

Judith came to Britain to work and build a life, believing that hard work and respectability would keep her safe. Now a nurse, she keeps her head down and sends money home, quietly hoping her sacrifices will mean something.

Mikey is angry, restless and unafraid to speak truth to power - whether through protest or paint.

And Frank? Frank's just trying to find joy wherever he can, even if the world around him is falling apart.

Their worlds collide in a small Caribbean restaurant in South London, where the smell of Scotch bonnet drifts out the windows and life-altering decisions are made between shifts and shared meals.

Decades later, a new generation finds its way back to the same place. As the city changes around them, what remains is community, memory and the pulse of something unbreakable.

Soon Come is a rich, moving debut about migration, friendship and the spaces we create when the world gives us none. Inspired by true stories, this is a celebration of the everyday defiance and quiet dreams of London's Caribbean community - and what it means to belong.

Genres: Fiction

256 pages, Hardcover

Published September 25, 2025

Reviews

[BookOfCinz · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Soon Come we are transported to a small Caribbean restaurant in South London where we meet three friends who are from Jamaican heritage, trying to make their way in London.

The author introduces us to everyone, we see how they got to London and their relationship with Jamaica. One friend gets sent back to Jamaica because their document wasn’t in other, another who is a photographer fell on hard times. The author does a great job of showcasing their humanity. These is a bit of rawness to them that I enjoyed reading.

While I did enjoy the book, I felt like the timeline jumped a bit too much and I was confused in some parts about who was who. I also felt the books suffered by having way too many characters, I felt if the author had homed in on the three friends we could have gotten a fuller story. I felt the book was slow in certain areas and fast in others, pacing was definitely an issue and I wished the author took an extra 65 pages to give us more.

I do love reading about Jamaicans in London so if you are the same, go get this!
Overall, a nice read.

[Chris L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kuba Shand-Baptiste's 'Soon Come' is her debut novel and it tells the timely story of Jamaican immigrants living in London from the 1950s onwards. Shand-Baptiste examines the struggles of Mikey, Frank and Judith as they try to adapt to their new country. We see what it is like to be an unwanted stranger in another land, and how that can impact someone's confidence and mental health. How do you go about your day when you know you're surrounded by people who see you as 'the other'? Like the recent novel, ' Oxford Soju Club' which was about Korean immigrants in Oxford, 'Soon Come' shows how immigrants find solace and a place to go through food. They seek solace in a restaurant because the food reminds them of home; it's a way to find comfort when they feel so isolated. Shand-Baptiste captures this beautifully.

Kuba Shand-Baptiste has created a novel that honours the Jamaican culture and her characters. She shows us what happens when we our open minds, our cultures, and our cities to new people. It's even more noticeable as we read this book in 2025 with the rise of xenophobia. If more people read books like 'Soon Come', the UK would be a much better place.

[Beachcomber · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This follows 3 Jamaican people who’ve moved to London at different points in their lives, and the chapters vary between which character they focus on, and they jumped around in time a bit, which usually I can follow, but I found it a bit harder this time for some reason. I appreciated that the author kept patois in the book, which honours the characters and their backgrounds, though I would really like if we didn’t have to have eleventy billion references to characters “kissing their teeth” every time there’s a Jamaican character… I had the same thing in another Jamaican character book I read a few months ago. I lost track of how many times this was mentioned, in both books, after the first dozen times. At one point there were two mentions on the same page in this one!

I received a free ARC copy of this via NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

[Rachel Sargeant]

At fifty-four, Lisa was a good twenty-seven years younger than her.
Across the years, three people meet at in a small Caribbean restaurant in North West London:

Nurse Judith works hard, sends money home and behaves in a proper manner.

Mikey, former photographer and activist, is angry and restless.

Happy-go-lucky Frank is a proud East Londoner since the age of twelve. That’s until 2012, when he’s taken to Harmondsworth Detention Centre while the Jamaican and British Commissions establish his identity.

This well-written novel offers vivid character studies, social history and the exploration of gross injustice.

[Diani Wilmot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soon Come is a beautifully written novel that centres on the experiences of Caribbean Brits, from the Windrush generation through to the 2010s.
Kuba Shand-Baptiste's debut story touches on the foundations of the Black British experience.
It's a truly nostalgic piece that transports you from the homely shores of Jamaica to the bustling city science of London, all with a generous helping of patois. The characters are endearing, complex, and vividly drawn, and I love that you get to watch them grow and evolve throughout the story.
You'll laugh, cry, and gasp your way through this beautifully crafted novel.

[Haxxunne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good but flawed attempt
—
This is a rich book that foregrounds British Caribbean and British Black experience, but perhaps in its attempt to show all of life through the author’s lens, overwhelms the reader with too much detail, too much stuff, too many characters. The central trio are each fascinating and multidimensional in their own right and each are surrounded by a constellation of supporting cast that adds detail but also muddles the focus of the novel. In reality this is almost three novels in one, with distinct geographic boundaries for each of the main characters, which can be done but is harder than bringing together all the action in one place.

Three and a half stars