A House for Alice

A stunning multi-generational kaleidoscope of London Bernardine Evaristo

A wise, tender novel about family and love Monica Ali

After fifty years in London, Alice wants to return home to Nigeria. Her three daughters are divided on whether she stays or goes, and in the wake of their father’s death, the imagined stability of the family begins to fray. Meanwhile youngest sister Melissa has never let go of a love she lost, and Michael in return, even though he is now married to Nicole, is haunted by the failed perfection of the past.

Spanning three generations and set against the shadows of a nation in turmoil, these ordinary people confront fundamental questions. How to raise our children? How to do right by our parents? And how, in the midst of everything, do we satisfy ourselves?

Heart and humour in abundance . . . The people on the page are real and rawThe Times

So arresting, characterful, and so beautiful Candice Carty-Williams

I adored it. Her writing is exquisite: every sentence a jewel Elizabeth Day