Jamaica Road Audiobook By Lisa Smith cover art

Jamaica Road

A Novel

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A transformative love story about two best friends who fall for each other, fall apart, and try to find their way back together in their tight-knit British-Jamaican community.

South London, 1981: Daphne is the only Black girl in her class. All she wants is to keep her head down, preferably in a book. The easiest way to survive is to go unnoticed.

Daphne’s attempts at invisibility are upended when a boy named Connie Small arrives from Jamaica. Connie is the opposite of small in every way: lanky, outgoing, and unapologetically himself. Daphne tries to keep her distance, but Connie is magnetic, and they form an intense bond. As they navigate growing up in a volatile, rapidly changing city, their families become close, and their friendship begins to shift into something more complicated. When Connie reveals that he and his mother “nuh land”—meaning they’re in England illegally—Daphne realizes that she is dangerously entangled in Connie’s fragile home life. Soon, long-buried secrets in both families threaten to tear them apart permanently.

Spanning one tumultuous decade, from the industrial docklands of the Thames to the sandy beaches of Calabash Bay, Jamaica Road is a deftly plotted and emotionally expansive debut novel about race and class, the family you’re born with and the family you choose, and the limits of what true love can really conquer. African American Family Life Friendship Genre Fiction Women's Fiction England Caribbean
Well-developed Characters • Engaging Storyline • Rich Historical Content • Cultural Authenticity • Joyful Performance

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Great book!! Excellent performance! Will read again to experience it again learning the history of race relations in the UK.

Not what I expected

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beautiful and heart wrenching story about life in Britain om the 80a and 90s for Black Jamaicans

loved it

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my dislike is about racism I am a black female 70 years old and have seen a lot I am an American that went to Jamaica in 1970 for the first time fell in love with the country fell in love with the people until I start listening and reading I didn't know that the Jamaican suffered a lot of racism in England such a sad thing and it's still a sad and mean thing now that people do not want to live together we are equal because God say we are

the bond that Connie and her had turned into love and her dedication to him.

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This is a 5 star all the way book - at least it would have been if the end wasn’t so abrupt and unsatisfying. ☹️ Maybe it’s setting up for a series. That would be great! If you’re interested in well-flushed characters and an interesting storyline including family, love, friendship, racism, interracial relationships, Jamaicans in Britain and some true history mixed with fiction, this IS your book!! Read it! It’s an impressive debut novel.

Great characters!

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As a Jamaican American I am committed to reading as many books as possible by Caribbean writers. This novel was not only well written it is culturally significant and I learned so much about my counterparts across the pond. The characters were wonderful and the storyline about young love, race relations, immigration and growing up inntwo worlds as a first generation person pulls you in immediately. Well done. As my Grandma would say "My glad bag bust" reading this wonderful tale.

Excellent

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