An exceptional Black British debut filled with desire and jeopardy and set on a south London estate Three women. For a year they live in the flat below Earl's on Blossom View Estate. Then there are two. The RunnerLivia's been running for long enough to think her past might never catch up with her. But now she's been forced to stop, catch her breath and face the daughter she left behind. The FirecrackerMickey is angry about a lot of things: having a mother who left and a father who didn't fight hard enough to make her stay. And with no other place to go, she's forced to need the very person who abandoned her. The ChildSummer has a new grandmother, but she is strange and now her mum is either angry, sad or out looking for men to distract her. Summer hates school but is good at making friends: with the boy from around the corner, with Earl from upstairs in his flat filled with plants, and with the nice friend of her mum's who starts to pick her up from school. Spanning a year, this is a novel of hope, desire and loss which explores the damage we do to the people we claim to love the most. Told with music and grace, No Small Thing reveals tender truths about motherhood, the intersection of class and race, and the history we inherit.
