Description

‘Gorgeous and heartwrenching’ CALEB AZUMAH NELSON, Sunday Times bestselling author of Small Worlds and Open Water

‘What an electrifying and important debut. Every word is knife sharp, every emotion nuanced and every twist brilliantly turned . . . Should be at the top of everyone’s 2026 Must Read list’ RACHEL JOYCE, author of The Handmade God

Smallie adj. |smal*lie|
Definition: Caribbean (informal). Describing or relating a person from a small island; a small islander.

In 1961, nineteen-year-old Lucinda Brown travels to England in search of her son’s father, Clarence Braithwaite, who left Barbados to join the British army. But aboard the ship to Southampton she meets a man named Raldo who offers her a glimpse of a new life, a freer life. Bound by the memory of her son waiting at home, she chooses Clarence – realizing too late that war has made a stranger out of him.

Nearly fifty years later, Lucinda receives a letter from the Home Office that threatens to tear her world apart. Her children rally together to prove her legal arrival, and to do so they must track down an elusive man from her past, a man she wanted to love but instead lost, a man who now holds the key to her family’s future. Raldo . . .

An exhilarating and expansive tale of a family thrown into collision with the Windrush scandal, Smallie shows just how easily the past can spill into our lives, even when – especially when – we think we’ve closed the door on it.

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‘An important novel that rises to the challenge of accountability and modern justice. McKenzie-Goddard writes with a commanding style, both measured and flamboyant’ DIANA EVANS, author of the Women’s Prize for Ficion shortlisted novel Ordinary People

‘A sharp, tender debut that traverses generations of one family’ YOMI SODE, award-winning author of Manorism

‘Smallie . . . is both historical retrospective of the West Indian experience in Britain during the so-called ‘Windrush’ era, as well as heartwarming exploration of love of self, family, community and country. It is a brilliant and deeply moving debut’ CHERIE JONES, author of How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House

Publisher Review

An enlightening and beautifully crafted story * JJ Bola, author of Mask Off: Masculinity Redefined * With Smallie, McKenzie-Goddard has achieved a paradoxical feat: making a singular type of pain feel indisputably collective without sacrificing each unique aspect of such a dangerous time in recent history. Emotive, careful and wearing, McKenzie-Goddard's grasp of language is just as strong as the effect this outstanding debut will have on every reader * Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of The Three of Us * It is not too often that the significance of someone's work strikes you between the eyes from the first page, but this is what Eden has achieved with Smallie... Smallie reminds us of what it means to unite in powerlessness and how our futures often rest in the palms of the unjust. Told with stunning language and underlining the plight of the Windrush generation in the UK, this novel is one that will live with me indefinitely. * Onyi Nwabineli, author of Allow Me to Introduce Myself * What an electrifying and important debut. Every word is knife sharp, every emotion nuanced and every twist brilliantly turned. This devastating account of the Windrush scandal should be at the top of everyone's 2026 Must Read list * Rachel Joyce * A sharp, tender debut that traverses generations of one family * Yomi Sode, award-winning author of MANORISM * Smallie is the poignant and powerful story of what happens when Barbados-born Lucinda Brown is ordered to leave Britain, where she has lived, loved and raised a family since 1961. It is both historical retrospective of the West Indian experience in Britain during the so-called 'Windrush' era, as well as heartwarming exploration of love of self, family, community and country. It is a brilliant and deeply moving debut * Cherie Jones, author of How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House * An important novel that rises to the challenge of accountability and modern justice. McKenzie-Goddard writes with a commanding style, both measured and flamboyant * Diana Evans * With Smallie, Eden Mckenzie-Goddard has given us a novel that will easily be one of the most important literary texts in British history. The voices are alive, and the characters feel so easily realised that they could stroll off the first few pages. With humour, love, pain and cultural connectedness, Eden has created a world that will resonate beyond the historic events that it chronicles. * Derek Owusu * Smallie is a beautiful rendering of an often-forgotten generation. With tenderness and a careful pen, McKenzie-Godard documents intimacies, not just of the Windrush scandal but the generations of those affected. Take time with this gorgeous and heartwrenching book, it is a thing to be savoured * Caleb Azumah Nelson *