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Publication Date: October 2020

All the Lonely People is a stunning novel painted on a big canvas. Alternating chapters portray the life of Hubert Bird, an old and lonely man when we meet him in the present day, but a young and hopeful immigrant to London from Jamaica at the beginning of his story.Hubert is proud and following a tragic event in his life, he has almost locked himself away from other people. It is his new neighbor, Ashleigh, who begins to coax him back into life - and who realizes that loneliness affects not just the old, but people like herself, a single mother in a new community, with no friends or support systems.As their tentative friendship grows - and with it a determination to tackle loneliness more widely - so we learn the life story of Hubert, his beloved wife Joyce and their children Rose and David.Hubert arrives in England in the late 1960s and must battle racism and loneliness as he seeks to establish a happy future for his young family in England. He falls in love with Joyce, a white English woman, and their marriage survives and prospers despite the opposition of her family. There is much fun and friendship in their life, as well as sadness and trouble - often in the shape of David, who never seems likely to be happy and successful like Rose.Spanning more than forty years, All the Lonely People is a wonderful journey through the past to a present that is both joyful and heartbreaking, as Hubert sets out to bring warmth and companionship to others - and to confront the secrets that have almost destroyed him.

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