London, 1981. 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.
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.
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Reviews
A transporting and lyrical work that beautifully tells the often erased stories of Black Britain's past and near-present. Heartfelt and deeply affecting, it's impossible not to fall for these nuanced, fully realised characters that will stick with you long after you've left the page. A triumph!
Combined my favourite things, art and Caribbean food, with beautiful, nuanced characters that I could have spent a lifetime with. When I finished, I wanted more.
I was blown away by the richness of the characters and their world. The journey that the story prepares the reader for drips with nostalgia and hope. A captivating work of art by one of Britain's most imaginative minds.
The reader is in safe hands with this writer . . . It's as if she has opened an old family photo album and diligently detailed the backstories behind each portrait . . . She is a humanist storyteller, an authoritative author.