Vivid and Compelling – a real winner

  • Book: Brixton Beach
  • Location: London, Sri Lanka
  • Author: Roma Tearne

Review Author: Anne Cater

Location

Content

`Brixton Beach’ opens dramatically with the horrific events of the 2005 London bombings – a beginning that immediately pulled me into the novel. The descriptions of the after-math of the bombing are vividly drawn, quite disturbing and very thought-provoking.

The story then moves back thirty years to war-torn Ceylon – and concentrates on the story of Alice, the daughter of a Singhalese mother and a Tamil father. The major character in Alice’s life is her grandfather Bee – a strong, brave man with family values and the good of his country at the heart of everything that he does.

As a child of parents from two different cultures, Alice is treated as something as an outsider and after a tragedy within the family she and her mother follow her father to England to find a better life.

The novel is a story of homeland, identity and relationships, and these are all tested when the family are in England

This is a colourful and descriptive novel which I enjoyed immensely, towards the end of the story I found it very difficult to put down. The ending is dramatically written and the story ends on the same day that it begins – the July 2005 London bombings.

I think this novel would spark some fascinating book group debate and will certainly stay with me for quite a while.

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