Smallie

by Eden McKenzie-Goddard

In 1961, 19-year-old Lucinda Brown travels to England in search of her lover, Clarence Braithwaite, a jazz musician who left Barbados to join the British army. Aboard the ship to Southampton, Lucinda meets Raldo, a free-wheeling Trinidadian, who offers her the wild freedom that both her old life in Barbados and the life that awaits her in Britain lack. Driven by loyalty, and the memory of the little boy she left behind, she chooses Clarence – though soon realises that he is no longer the saxophonist she fell in love with, but a veteran at war with himself.

Fifty years later, Patrick Braithwaite, a father, husband, business owner and recovering alcoholic from Tottenham, has to rally his three siblings when their mother receives a letter from the Home Office that tears their life apart. They need to prove their mother’s legal arrival, to prevent her deportation, and to do that they need to find a man their mother once loved, known only by the name of Raldo…

Tender, rich and big-hearted, Smallie is a stunning British debut about three generations of a Bajan-British family affected by the Windrush scandal that will move, enrage and pull you in.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical

291 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 7, 2026

Reviews

[Nicola · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

I loved this story.

Historical to present day fiction. This story, inspired by true events, addresses the UK Windrush Scandal and follows Lucinda, a 19 year old girl leaving Barbados in 1960s for the UK where she hopes to meet her lover, Clarence. Fast forward to the present day chapters, we follow Lucinda’s children, with a focus on her son Patrick, trying to prove his Mother’s legal entry into the UK, otherwise, she faces deportation.

It was so disheartening to read a story on a woman who was invited to the UK, only to be told that she was marked as being illegal. The writing is very descriptive, filled with beautiful sentences, vivid and immersive. The author does a fantastic job in conveying the effects on all parties involved in the scandal. I did initially struggle with the poetical writing style, however once I got into the flow, I adored this storytelling!

There are so many themes to unpack in this book but here is what stood out for me:

The immigrant experience is perfectly captured.

The relationships surrounding Lucinda. Particularly the chapters on her childhood and her father’s strict upbringing. The friendship dynamics with Sheila and love interests, Clarence & Raldo were elegantly composed.

Motherhood - Lucinda left a son in Barbados and her lack of communication with him weighed heavy on me.

How the effects of Lucinda’s potential deportation affected her children was well depicted.

The Bajan dialogue is outstanding and all the characters are realistic. A bittersweet ending, but for me, it was satisfying and heartwarming and an ending that I wanted!

[Books By Your Bedside]

I think there's the opportunity for a really good story here but I couldn't finish it. I cannot stand books that don't have speech marks in and it completely ruins the reading of the story sadly. I may give it another ago at a future time but for now, I just couldn't stick with it.

[readsbycoral · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The streets of London are filled with the phantom children of immigrants. When you see a mother without her child, recognise you are not seeing her. You are seeing limbs that do, eyes that see, and a mouth that says. But she is not there. She is wherever they are.”

Some people are born to write, and McKenzie-Goddard is one of those people. It is truly astonishing that Smallie is a debut, as novels like this do not come along every day. This book announces a remarkable new voice in British fiction, unravelling a story which, from the very outset, burns to be told.

Smallie follows the life of Lucinda Brown, a warm hearted and fiercely brave mother, who travels to England in 1961, in search of her lover and the father of her son, Clarence Braithwaite, a jazz musician who left Barbados to join the British army. From the moment Lucinda boards the ship to England, the trajectory of her life changes forever, after she meets someone on that crossing who will hold her heart in his palms for the next 60 years. Fast forward to 2017, three generations of a Bajan-British family fight the Home Office with everything it takes, so that their loved one can remain in the UK. The question is, can love, strength and hope outweigh hatred, ignorance and fear?

Smallie is an ode to home, to belonging, to human strength, to love. As readers, we are confronted with a multitude of important questions about injustice, cruelty, displacement, betrayal and loss. McKenzie-Goddard underlines the plight of the Windrush generation in the UK with a narrative voice so compelling, so accomplished, that I am certain we will be talking about this book for generations to come.

It may only be January, but I already know that this book will be on my top reads of 2026.

Thank you so much Penguin Viking for giving me the chance to read this 5 months ahead of release!

[Bukola Akinyemi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smallie
By Eden McKenzie-Goddard

Panic is a spider, crawling in my folds, hatching eggs in soft places, until I am swarmed with tickling nerves across my entire body.

I thought I’d start this review by showing you how beautiful the writing in this book is. If this passage made you feel something, pick this book up when it comes out in spring 2026, in fact, preorder it now.

📒📒📒📒📒

Smallie switches between Lucinda’s story in 1961 as she leaves Barbados to travel to England in search of her lover Clarence at the age of 19. While on the ship, she meets Raldo, a carefree man from Trinidad who has his eyes on Lucinda, he calls her Smallie and she likes him but she is loyal to Clarence.

The other storyline follows Patrick Braithwaite fifty years later. Patrick and his siblings are trying to prevent the deportation of their mother and prove her legal arrival in the country fifty years before.

I found Patrick’s chapters informative but absolutely adored Lucinda’s. I couldn’t wait to get back to them because of the emotions I felt while reading them. I felt love and longing on the pages, anger and irritation and then understanding. I felt joy and then pain.

The characters were so well developed. From young Lucinda, her controlling dad and her loving Nanny Florelda, her lovers, Clarence and Raldo to Patrick and Mark. I saw the complexity of relationships, effects of war and trauma.

This book covers political scandals of recent years like the Windrush Scandal and historical events like the Post-War Caribbean to Britain migration (1950s-1960s), building the Panama Canal and Irish indentured servants known as the Redlegs of Barbados.

I would highly recommend this book to everyone, especially lovers of historical fiction and Caribbean books, lovers of literary fiction and beautifully crafted sentences and those who love nuanced characters.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

They teach you in AA that addiction is hereditary. That one way or another this insatiable yearning opens up within us and sobriety is learning to live with the reality it will never be filled. But I left the conversation with Mum feeling so angry. So enraged. The way Yarl’s Wood security walked me out of the visiting area. The smiles from the receptionist as I left. The normality. Acceptance that this place can exist. I hate it all. I hate the politeness of this country. I hate having a stiff upper lip and pretending these systems are acceptable. That we can’t all agree that removal centres should not exist, and are neither discussion worthy or vote dependent, but stand as lessons that humanity should never put in place again. Then there’s Mum and her f*** generation. Why is pain such a taboo? Why are we told stories but never allowed to ask details? Why is it so hard for her to admit for once in her life that she is suffering?

 
Featured in the Guardian “10 Debut Novels to Look Out for in 2026” list – and I think a strong contender for literary prizes, particularly those targeting Debut Novels (Waterstones, Nero, Author’s Club) and perhaps most of all the Orwell Prize for political fiction to which it seems very suited (politically themed and even with two fictional politicians as side characters) and timely (with its publication date – on week before the Finalist announcement - coinciding with Reform sweeping seats across the nation with their policies of mass Deportations.
 
Because it is a novel which while rather conventionally for British literary fiction deals with the Windrush generation of Caribbean immigrants to the UK and their experience coming to and adapting to England, as well as the experiences of subsequent generations (as an aside the novel has a deliberately provocative epigraph – “There is something about the nature of Europe that destroys by assimilation” from Jonny Pitts “Afropean”) but also, and in my experience rather uniquely for British literary fiction, deals with the Windrush scandal (in which under Theresa May’s oversights as home secretary and then Prime Minister a policy of forced deportations of illegal immigrants caught up members that same Windrush generation – who at the time of their legal entry did not need formal documentation of their citizenship).
 
It is largely told in two alternating first party sections.
 
The first begins with Lucinda (Lulu) Braithwaite – arriving in Southampton in 1961 from her native Barbados – to meet her ex-serviceman jazzman soon-to-be-husband Clarence (although we quickly realise Clarence has no idea she is coming and that Lucinda is equally unaware of the need to give a place to stay).  With no other option she accepts a ride with a man Raldo - who has befriended her on the boat and who gives her the titular nickname, due I think to their both coming from smaller Caribbean Islands – telling the authorities she is staying with him.  On their journey to London, driven in a well-appointed car by one of Raldo’s friends – where she is still intending to meet Clarence, they are stopped and beaten by the police on the pretence of them having stolen the car and in the ensuing fracas Lucinda is knocked unconscious.  In hospital she is offered a job as cleaner by Raldo’s friend’s employer – a soon to be Conservative MP.  Despite Raldo’s obvious feelings for her she moves in with the equally obviously unfaithful and unreliable Clarence (sharing a single room with another couple – the woman of which Sheila joins her as cleaner).
 
Lulu’s father is a patriarchal Church of England minister in his local Bajan parish – which both explains, importantly for the novel’s narrative the background to her conflicted relationship with Clarence and her leaving Barbados and importantly for the novel’s language, her beautiful way with words.
 
Almost immediately we are told of her father that: “Words were soldiers he ranked and collated to fight the incomprehensible. Yet my feelings were never defined. I was nothing more than a drill. A cut-out at a firing range before he charged Barbados with his magazine of definitions. But Daddy could never sound like them. A Bajan tongue toiled teeth, dulling the t’s, bouncing where he needed the tone to lie flat like coiled hair. There softened to dare, and he would froth until he could splutter the thhh sound like the Englishman who traded a thesaurus for his labour.” and his requirements on Lucinda gave her an equal Thesauras-obsession and love of language leading throughout her narrated life to some beautiful metaphors, for example “Outside, rageful brake lights surround a pothole in the middle of a zebra crossing” and “Despite easing forward gently my bones click, a snapped twig in the forest that is my body, where time is the only predator.” – rendering her sections at times an almost poetic read.
 
Over time Lucinda comes to realise that in the eyes of the English she is almost white – which causes a slight resentment from her friend Sheila and over time leads her to an act of assimilation (albeit in the interests she believes of a family member left behind in Barbados) which causes a breach with Sheila drastic for Sheila in the past, and with repercussions for Lucinda in the present (and with a link to cultural appropriation).
 
Those present sections are initially narrated by one of her sons Patrick (she also has – of which she seems in oblivion – a gay son, and another son who is a Conservative MP and soon to be Home Secretary).   We almost immediately realise that in these 2017 sections Lucinda, it seems via checks carried out on a passport application, identified as someone who never applied for naturalization and who not being able to immediately provide evidence of arrival before 1971 – at which point the automatic right to citizenship was withdrawn – has been taken to the Yarl Wood immigration centre ahead of a deportation flight in only a few weeks).  Later we hear from Lucinda herself before and after her detention (including in the Detention Centre where she meets an ISIS Bride).
 
The family (including also a daughter) and with the reluctant involvement of their estranged father Clarence come together in a series of meetings to try, with the aid of a high powered lawyer, to mount an appeal against deportation – quickly realising that their hopes might lay with either an elderly and resentful Sheila or – at Clarence’s suggestion – finding Raldo.
 
An additional depth is added to these sections is given by the alcoholic Patrick’s relapse into drinking immediately after hearing about his mother’s detention.  His son Jevan – struggling with his own writing – forms a side character and for a short period of time a third first party narrator.
 
There is a lot to like about this novel: in its timely and yet under-represented main theme, in its vibrant language (particularly in Lucinda’s sections), in its memorable main characters, in its detailed set of side themes and side-characters and in what is I think a very well judged ending (which is just the right side of overly sentimental).
 
If I had criticisms: the inclusion of a single Conservative politician was perhaps unnecessary – two rather overplayed things and the second as both soon to be Home Secretary and as son of a Windrush scandal mother felt that it rather heavily stretched coincidence (I suspect largely done to allow for a dramatic scene in which his siblings physically confront him with evidence that he knew – via constituent letters – of the brewing scandal); the Jevan sections – which I suspect partly autobiographically inspired – felt better left to another novel.
 
But overall as I noted a novel I expect to see on Prize lists.
 
My thanks to Viking, Penguin General UK for an ARC via NetGalley

[Hanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley for my early copy.

An important story that focuses on the Windrush scandal; a scandal that sadly did not receive the attention and disgust that it should have. Eden McKenzie-Goddard paints a vivid picture of a family that spans multi-generations; a family that love each other but realistically have flaws.
It focuses on multiple perspectives – Lucinda ‘Lulu’ who came to London to meet with her husband, Clarence and Patrick, Lulu’s son. The book has a good pace; it doesn’t rush through the events – events are explored thoroughly and you really know and understand each character. For me, I preferred Lucinda’s chapters to Patrick’s.
I would recommend this to anyone but particularly British readers and anyone who loves historical fiction.

[Nana · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 2012, the Home Office under the leadership of Theresa May pioneered the Hostile Environment policy. The goal? To create a hostile environment for illegal immigrants. Buses drove around London emblazoned with handcuffs and the slogan: “In the UK illegally? Go home or face arrest.” This policy — Britain’s own ICE — later led to the Windrush scandal, where 83 Commonwealth citizens who arrived between 1948 and 1971, answering the call to serve Queen and country, were deported. Thousands more lost jobs, were denied life-saving medical treatment, or were detained in immigration centres that were, in reality, prisons.

Smallie follows a Bajan family caught up in this scandal. We meet 19-year-old Lucinda as she voyages to Southampton to reunite with her lover Clarence, who left Barbados to serve in WWII. On board she meets a fellow Bajan, Raldo, but her heart remains fixed on Clarence. When they reunite, he is not the same man. What changed him — the war? Britain? The slow disillusionment of a country far removed from what they imagined? A country that has never fully welcomed immigrants, only masked its rejection with politeness.

This is my first time reading a novel about Windrush, and I appreciated how it humanised the scandal — turning headlines into lived experience. Through Lucinda’s eyes we see the hostility, racism, cramped living conditions (she shares a tiny room with another couple), loneliness and hardship. The narrative weaves in police brutality, rogue landlords, and racist employers, grounding the politics in personal loss.

However, what could have been an incredible debut fell short. Too many storylines remained unfinished — Reggie, the Edwards, Chris, Mark, Silvia. Why did Patrick only visit his mum once she was detained? What was that story? Sheila? And some characters, like Jevan, felt abruptly inserted. Revelations that should have been slowly built for tension were instead revealed haphazardly. Pat’s relapse into alcoholism also didn’t feel convincing.

That said, the language in places is exquisite. Lucinda’s voice is poetic — it took time to adjust to, but it became the strongest part of the novel. The depiction of Barbados and England in the 40s and 60s is vivid and immersive.

Overall, it’s a solid debut. With more space and development, it could have been a masterpiece. As it stands, it’s a worthwhile read for its portrayal of a scandal I rarely see explored in fiction.

[Stephanie Bull · Rating 3 out of 5]

Smallie follows Lucinda and a cast of interconnected characters across dual timelines, exploring the lasting impact of the Windrush scandal and the experiences of the Caribbean community in Britain. Through Lucinda's journey from Barbados to London, the novel examines themes of identity, belonging, family and survival against a backdrop of racism, prejudice and systemic injustice. The shifting timelines gradually reveal how past decisions and hidden truths ripple through generations, while also highlighting the emotional toll faced by those caught up in the scandal. Rich in atmosphere and cultural detail, the story aims to give a voice to people whose experiences have often been overlooked.

This had the makings of a truly outstanding novel, especially as it is inspired by such an important real life scandal. The dual timeline worked very well and I appreciated how clearly each period was identified at the start of every chapter, making it easy to follow the shifts between past and present. Unfortunately, despite the strength of the subject matter, I found the book really hard work to read. It took a while to adjust to the Caribbean patois and, while I understand why the author chose to write in that style, it sometimes interrupted the flow for me. My biggest struggle however, was the complete lack of speech marks, which often made conversations difficult to follow and left me re-reading sections to work out who was speaking.

For me there were far too many supporting characters introduced whose storylines seemed to begin with purpose but then disappeared without resolution. Interesting threads were abandoned before they were fully developed. The ending was especially frustrating, I never mind an open or ambiguous conclusion but finished the book a tad confused. I reread the final page a couple of times, convinced I had missed something important.

Despite all this I cannot deny the ambition behind this novel or the importance of the story it is trying to tell. There are moments of real emotional power and the themes covered are incredibly important. Sadly, for me, the execution never quite matched the potential.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin General UK for my advanced reader copy in return for my honest and unbiased review.

[Kat(ja) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into this book knowing very little about the plot, but heard that the debut novel was praised by one of my favorite authors, Caleb Azumah Nelson, and I would gladly follow his recommendation any day. I then quickly learned that the story was inspired by the Windrush scandal, which I will admit I also knew shamefully little about. However, in short, that meant it was a story about victims of statelessness and people with insecure citizenship status – something that remains a very prominent issue in today’s political climate.

Eden McKenzie-Goddard managed to weave a beautiful, tragic and poignant multi-generational tale spanning decades and continents that will break your heart. You get insights into one family’s life and how the past can resurface when you least expect it. The language in Smallie often feels special, at times poetic and always intentional, yet the author doesn’t shy away from showing ugly or unpleasant moments either. There were some aspects I would have liked to explore further (e.g. Reggie) but the messiness and uncertainty of how some things were going to pan out made it feel all the more authentic and rich. I cannot deny the emotional impact the story had on me. Especially towards the last couple of chapters, I was fighting tears that were threatening to well up.

Ultimately, I’m very glad I got to read this debut and am looking forward to what the future holds for Eden McKenzie-Goddard.

As a final heads up I’d like to mention that a lot of the dialogue is written in dialect and without quotation marks. While I didn’t mind those things too much, I know that the latter is a pet peeve for some.

Lastly, thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

[Katharine Bubbear · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admit that I had high hopes for this debut from Eden McKenzie-Goddard. A supposedly “character-driven” story with “emotional depth”, I was excited to read a fictionalised family’s story surrounding the terrible Windrush Scandal.

The concept itself - the family’s desperate fight to overturn their elderly mother’s imminent deportation ruling, while simultaneously struggling with their own personal demons - sounded like a fascinating read. And don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Lucinda’s storyline - her childhood in Barbados under the rule of a strict Anglican father, her escape to the UK in order to be reunited with the man whose child she has had, their desperate living conditions in an inherently racist society, which had purported to be welcoming. All of this was well written and captivating. Where the book lost me was the interweaving of so many different characters’ stories. I struggled to keep up with who was who, and it felt as if not enough time had been given to each character, so that I found it almost difficult to care. The ending was also disappointing, and I felt unrewarded for the amount of effort it had taken to actually get to the conclusion.

This may be an unfair point of view, and I’m fully prepared to accept the responsibility for the lack of concentration required to follow the narrative. But such is life. Sometimes you want a story that hooks you in, makes you fall in love with the characters and grieve when the book ends. This wasn’t it for me, but I still think it’s an important work of fiction, shining light on the appalling treatment of the Windrush generation and the hugely damaging impact it has continued to have on their families, their communities and the country as a whole.

[Jamad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Smallie follows Lucinda Brown, a young woman who leaves Barbados for England in the early 1960s in search of Clarence, the jazz musician she loves, who travelled ahead of her after his military service. On the voyage she meets Raldo, a warm and hopeful Trinidadian, and for a moment her future seems open to different possibilities. In Britain she chooses Clarence, only to discover that war and migration have altered him. Years pass. She builds a life, raises children, works hard, belongs. Then a letter from the Home Office arrives demanding proof of her legal right to remain. As the Windrush scandal unfolds, her children scramble to piece together documentary evidence from decades earlier, retracing her steps and reconnecting with figures from her past in an attempt to prevent her deportation.

I enjoyed the story and learning more about the Windrush scandal and the impossible position people were put in, expected to prove their right to remain in a country they had lived in for most of their lives. The novel brings home the human cost of bureaucratic failure, not in abstract political terms but through one family’s anxiety and bewilderment. There is a quiet anger running beneath it, and rightly so.

Where I struggled was with the style. The heavy use of dialect often pulled me out of the narrative, making me conscious of the writing rather than absorbed in it. I would also have preferred conventional punctuation for speech; the lack of it is a pet peeve of mine and it repeatedly made dialogue feel harder work than it needed to be.

So this settles at three stars for me. A worthwhile, humane story about a shameful episode in recent British history, but one I might have enjoyed more had the stylistic choices been a little less intrusive.

[Audrey Haylins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smallie is a debut. A quite extraordinary one. Powerful, brilliant, challenging. A lyrical ode to family, to home, to belonging. And I almost gave up on it.

It’s the story of Lucinda ‘Lulu’, who leaves her native Barbados in 1961 at the age of nineteen to sail to England, in search of the father of her toddler son. Clarence had left a pregnant Lulu to join the British army, with the promise that he’d send for her.

Fifty years later, after a lifetime of living and working in London and raising a family, Lulu receives a letter from the Home Office stating that she’s about to be deported as an illegal migrant.

The scope of this novel is astonishing. From the hostile migrant experience and the Windrush scandal to themes of choices, missteps and second chance love, it’s a story that will make you rage, cry, then send your heart soaring with hope.

Lulu is a triumph. Everything you’d want in a female protagonist. With weaknesses, yes, but brave, determined, ambitious, and oh so very human, her heart as big as the moon.

What really blew me away, though, was McKenzie-Goddard’s prose. Sharp to the point of opaqueness, it is replete with metaphor, personification and the kind of imagery that dazzles. Many’s the time I had to pause to consider a phrase or a sentence to derive its meaning. And then nod in appreciation.

So why, with such effusive praise, did I almost walk away? Well, I struggled—and I mean really struggled—with the use of patois and the lack of speech marks. Initially, I couldn’t understand what was being said—IF something was being said—and by whom. But, by some strange alchemy, Lulu’s story got under my skin, and after a few chapters, these irritations quietly melted away.

Smallie may be a novel you have to work at to appreciate, but it’s an effort that’s rewarded tenfold. A sublime debut and an incredible new writing talent to follow.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is cleverly told across two life times: Lulu in 1961 as she arrives as in England from Barbados, and her children in 2017 who are working against the clock to prove when their Mum came legally to England all those years ago. If they can’t find evidence, then they can’t stop the order to prevent her from being deported, eradicating the life that she has built in all the decades since she first landed on English soil.
Lucinda has six weeks to ‘‘prepare to leave a life of 60 years.’ She has been declared an illegal immigrant.

The chapters set in the sixties, as Lulu navigates her new life in England, are so well drawn. I loved the accents and how you could hear the musical patois so beautifully, which Lulu’s father is desperate to mask in the early chapters centred around her upbringing. The push and pull between home and the rest of the world, expected life and desired life, what you imagine versus reality, and the allure felt for different people, create really compelling themes through the book (and - there is jazz music!)

Smallie is perfect for readers who love stories about families navigating their past and their present, families with stories that they don’t talk about and families who represent a rich cultural heritage. It is a story about encounters, choices and chances. It is a story which turns a lens back to the past and makes us reflect on how the sanctions of a few can affect the lives of many.

Eden McKenzie Goddard has created a story which is accute, and demands accountability. It is an amazing debut. Massive thanks to NetGalley, Penguin UK and Viking Books for the ARC opportunity, I am so glad I was granted this one.

[Rachel Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Windrush Scandal resulted from changes to government policy which meant people from the Caribbean who were invited to England as economic migrants found themselves fighting for their right to stay decades later.

Smallie humanises this injustice through the story of Lucinda Braithwaite, a Bajan woman who immigrated to England in 1961 only to find herself facing deportation decades later in 2017.

McKenzie-Goddard is a skilled writer, his character work is excellent particularly for the 1950s/1960s timeline. Lucinda, Raldo, Sheila and Gus were all vivid characters and their stories were at times frustrating, triumphant, sad and inspiring.

The modern 2017 timeline wasn't as strong and the ending felt rushed. I think an additional 50-100 pages to fill in the modern storylines would have helped. There were some interesting themes around alcoholism, generational trauma and the challenges of being a person of colour in politics but these were not as fully developed as I would have liked.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. McKenzie-Goddard has the talent to write compelling characters and, for a debut novel, Smallie is ambitious with lots to commend. I look forward to future books from him as he continues to hone his craft.

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Smallie by Eden McKenzie-Goddard tells the story of Lucinda (Smallie). In 1961, she travels from Barnardos to England to join her husband; fifty years later, she becomes a victim of the Windrush scandal. The novel moves between Lucinda’s childhood, her arrival in England in the early 1960s, and her life decades later.

The pacing was a little slow for me, though I still enjoyed reading it. The characters felt believable, and Raldo was my clear favourite. Overall, I was engaged, but I found myself much less interested in the characters in the 2000s as they felt flatter and less interesting, and I didn’t really warm to them. I wanted more of Lucinda’s story, and I was particularly keen to know about Reggie's story.  The use of dialect added authenticity and atmosphere; although I found it difficult to follow at first, I did get used to it.


While the ending was 'nice', it wasn’t entirely satisfying for me. Too much felt unresolved. That said, I appreciated learning more about the Windrush scandal, and it’s prompted me to want to read more about it. I received a free advance review copy, and this is my honest review.

[Que Wolf]

Smallie is the stunning debut from Eden McKenzie-Goddard. A historical fiction rich with romance, suspense, and heart.
Set between 1961 London and the present day, the story follows Lucinda Brown, who travels from Barbados to London in search of her lover Clarence, a jazz musician turned British Army soldier. On the ferry, she meets Raldo a smooth-talking Trinidadian who makes an instant impression,
What unfolds is a journey through migration, love, loss, and survival. When Lucinda finally reunites with Clarence, he’s no longer the man she once knew, hardened by war and the realities of being a Black man in Britain.

Fast forward 50 years later, and Lucinda now faces deportation unless her children can prove she arrived in the UK legally. Their search forces them to retrace her past and uncover stories and people they never knew existed, including Raldo.

Smallie is a beautiful, tender, and deeply human story, a powerful debut that feels close to home and a must read for lovers of generational novels set in London.

If you love stories about family, memory, migration, and untold histories, this one’s for you.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️4.5⭐️

Thank you Penguin General UK , Eden McKenzie-Goddard & NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

In this book we follow the main character Lucinda Brown who travels from Barbados to England in 1961 during the Windrush era in hopes to find her son father.
Nearly fifty years later, Lucinda receives a letter from the Home Office that threatens to tear her world apart. Her children rally together to prove her legal arrival, and to do so they must track down an elusive man from her past, a man she wanted to love but instead lost, a man who now holds the key to her family’s future. Raldo . . .

An exhilarating and expansive tale of a family thrown into collision with the Windrush scandal.

When I got accepted to read this arc I was completely over the moon. any book that is based on real events in history pull on my heart strings and this book was no different.
The writing was beautiful and heartfelt and I cant wait to see what Eden McKenzie-Goddard comes out with next.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

The attraction to this short novel was the Windrush connection. Arriving in the UK having survived an Atlantic Ocean voyage from Barbados, Lucinda meets Raldo, a Trinidadian, who offers her the freedom that both her old life in Barbados and the life that awaits her in Britain lack.This is far removed from the life that Lucinda had been expecting. Initially the interspersion in Creole dialect makes reading slow as I spent more time deciphering its meaning. In essence, the novel is about three generations of a British Bajan family affected by the Windrush scandal. Very emotive, distressing and raw reading, reminding me of how badly these people were treated by our government. Not my preferred genre, but nonetheless worthy of a read to get a good grasp of Windrush.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books for this ARC for review.

[Fatguyreading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smallie is the debut novel from this author and follows the story of three generations of one family whose lives were impacted quite heavily by the Windrush scandal and how badly they were treated by the British government.

It's an incredibly emotive, evocative read, full of raw, deep emissions as we follow the generational story of this family from their origins in Barbados, to their journey to across the Atlantic to Britain, to the harsh reality if having to prove the right to remain in the country, over 50 years after arriving.

So all in all, a very interesting read on the subject of an important period of history, and one that should not be forgotten.

It's an engaging read, with characters that are believable and feel real and the story bobs along nicely and holds your attention throughout.

4 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 's from me.

[Stephen the Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes you read a book that has such an urgency and energy that you can't put it down... the emotions and power of the story are palpable.

Smallie by Eden McKenzie- Goddard tells the story of Lucinda Brown who travels to England from Barbados in 1961 during the Windrush era; she is searching for the father of her son.

The story is set at two specific periods in history - events in 1961 when Lucinda arrives and tries to understand life in England and the mentality of people ( finding work and integrating)and the frightening repercussions of government policy imposed on some of the Windrush generation in 1917- the hostile environment policy when some people are regarded as illegal residents. The policy is shocking and the impact on Lucinda and the desperation of her family and friends screams from the pages. The search for documentation to provide proof of being a citizen after 50 years and how people from the Caribbean were stopped from automatic residency with preference to other 'Commonwealth countries'

This is an important read- political decisions made in the past are shocking - highlighting the plight of the individuals trapped within systems and the fight for justice..

Told with warmth, humanity and a deep compulsion to reveal what is unknown to many in recent history, this is a book that needs attention. In a world with ever narrowing borders and barriers, highlighting these recent events should hopefully stop such persecution ever happening again in the future...

Thank you to Viking Books and NetGalley for the advance copy

[Ben Dutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smallie, the debut novel by Eden McKenzie-Goddard tells the story of three generations of one family whose lives are impacted by the Windrush scandal and its fallout. Through differing viewpoints, giving a kaleidoscopic view of this part of British history, McKenzie-Goddard is able to craft a compelling, emotional and engaging tale. It is a short novel which I read in one sitting, drawn in by the characters and keen to read something or the insider view of this moment in time of which we have all heard. It is a great debut and I'm very keen to see what comes next from him.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

[Lisa Cook · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think there’s the opportunity for a really good story here, but I couldn’t finish it. I really struggle with books that don’t use proper speech marks. It makes it confusing to follow who’s speaking and it completely takes me out of the story. For that reason I didn’t even make it past the first few pages which is a real shame.

I don’t really understand the choice not to include them. Is it a trend? If it is, it’s an annoying one. It feels like something that will put a lot of readers off before the book has even had a fair chance.

Maybe audiobook could work better for me, but for now I just couldn’t stick with it. So disappointing!

[BookOfCinz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This debut novel takes us to London and is told during the 1960s and present day. It opens with Lucinda travelling from Barbados to London to find her lover, while present day, after spending all her life in the UK, she is being deported and her family is trying to fight it.

There are parts of the book that I loved and the other parts I felt needed some more fleshing out. This is where I wish the editor had asked for an additional 100 pages so we can really get some more time with the characters. Overall, a solid debut.

[Derek Withshire · Rating 5 out of 5]

One to watch

[rina dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smallie is a story inspired by true events and addresses the Windrush Scandal and follows 19 year old Lucinda in 1961 as she travels from Barbados to the UK to meet her lover and her son's father Clarence, a jazz musican who left Barbados to join the British Army. Leaving her son behind. The moment she boards the ship sailing to Southampton. The trajectory of Lucinda's life will drastically change forever.
This novel spans from historical to present day where we follow the perspective of Lucinda's children with a focus on Patrick, a father, a husband, and a recovering alcoholic who lives in Tottenham. When his mother receives a letter from the home office, the race is on to rally his siblings to stop his mother, a woman who was invited into the country from being deported.

The fact that this is a debut blows my mind. The depth and richness of this beautiful yet often heartbreaking story shines a spotlight on so many important themes.
I felt so enraged on behalf of these characters, especially Lucinda, as a mother and as a woman.
The writing is lyrical yet packs a punch, and I highlighted so many sentences. The ending of the story was Bittersweet, but exactly as it should of been and left me feeling satisfied.
This is a story of how The Windrush Scandal affected three generations and will pull you in and immerse you in a story that's hard to forget.
I can't wait to read whatever Eden writes next.

[RensBookishSpace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those stories I think people will be talking about for a long time. We follow Lucinda, who leaves Barbados in 1960s for the UK in hopes of reuniting with the man she loves, Clarence. I’ll be honest, I had zero patience for Clarence but their relationship reflects the realities of that time.

Fifty years later, a letter from the Home Office forces her children to prove she has the right to remain in the UK, bringing the Windrush scandal painfully close to home. What follows is an emotional look at the sacrifices, choices, and quiet hardships that shaped Lucinda’s life.

One of the standout aspects of this book was the prose and while it took me a little time to settle into the style, the story itself stayed with me.

If you’re drawn to immigration stories, family sagas, and narratives about belonging, this is worth pickingo up. Very Caribbean at heart and I loved that.