A review by booksbyblaine
This Lovely City by Louise Hare

4.0

This Lovely City follows a group of Windrush immigrants who recently arrived in London from Jamaica due to labor shortages in the UK following the Second World War. The main character, Lawrie Matthews, is a postman by day and a jazz musician by night who you can’t help but root for from beginning to end. While this book is accurately described as a murder mystery, it also grapples with what it looks like to love, hope, and trust in a place where you feel like you don’t belong. I absolutely adored this book and felt like Louise Hare did a phenomenal job at depicting 1950’s post-war Britain (i.e. bombed homes, rationed food, and overt racism), especially for a debut novel. Add this to your TBR!