Soon Come

(Hardback)

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Description

In one tiny Caribbean restaurant, three friends try to build a future in a country that refuses to see them.

Judith came to Britain to work and build a life, believing that hard work and respectability would keep her safe. Now a nurse, she keeps her head down and sends money home, quietly hoping her sacrifices will mean something.

Mikey is angry, restless and unafraid to speak truth to power - whether through protest or paint.

And Frank Frank's just trying to find joy wherever he can, even if the world around him is falling apart.

Their worlds collide in a small Caribbean restaurant in South London, where the smell of Scotch bonnet drifts out the windows and life-altering decisions are made between shifts and shared meals.

Decades later, a new generation finds its way back to the same place. As the city changes around them, what remains is community, memory and the pulse of something unbreakable.

Soon Come is a rich, moving debut about migration, friendship and the spaces we create when the world gives us none. Inspired by true stories, this is a celebration of the everyday defiance and quiet dreams of London's Caribbean community - and what it means to belong.

Reviews

A transporting and lyrical work that beautifully tells the often erased stories of Black Britain's past and near-present. Heartfelt and deeply affecting, it's impossible not to fall for these nuanced, fully realised characters that will stick with you long after you've left the page. A triumph! -- Yomi Adegoke, author of THE LIST and SLAY IN YOUR LANE
Combined my favourite things, art and Caribbean food, with beautiful, nuanced characters that I could have spent a lifetime with. When I finished, I wanted more. -- Nathan Bryon, screenwriter of RYE LANE
I was blown away by the richness of the characters and their world. The journey that the story prepares the reader for drips with nostalgia and hope. A captivating work of art by one of Britain's most imaginative minds. -- Kelechi Okafor, author of EDGE OF HERE
The reader is in safe hands with this writer . . . It's as if she has opened an old family photo album and diligently detailed the backstories behind each portrait . . . She is a humanist storyteller, an authoritative author. -- Hugh Quarshie

Author Bio

Kuba Shand-Baptiste is an award-winning journalist whose work is interested in identity, human connection and social justice. Soon Come, her debut novel, is a love-letter to British-Jamaican culture. The three main characters yearn for a sense of home yet have been wronged by society they joined. Her writing examines motives with nuance and offers neglected perspectives. She draws on experiences growing up in North West London as a British-Caribbean person. Kuba's work - including essays, features and poetry - has been featured in numerous publications, earning widespread acclaim. She is an engaging public speaker who has participated in panel discussions, lectures and radio shows as well as podcasts.