Books

Written in richly descriptive prose for fans of Derek Owusu, Natasha Brown and Caleb Azumah Nelson – Smallie is a probing yet tender novel about three generations of a Bajan family, exploring immigration, generational trauma, mental health and the Windrush scandal.

In 1956, 23-year-old Lucinda Brown travels to the UK a Bajan woman in search of her past lover, Clarence Braithwaite, a jazz musician who departs Barbados to join the British army. Upon arriving, Lucinda meets Raldo, a renegade Trinidadian, who offers her the freedom Britain and Barbados fail to fulfil. However, once Lucinda finds Clarence, he is no longer the saxophonist she fell in love with, but instead a veteran at war with himself.

60 years later Patrick Braithwaite, the eldest of seven, a father, husband and business owner from North London suffers a relapse in an addiction that shreds his life apart, and his mother receives a letter from the home office that will not only change how he sees himself, but how Britain sees people like him.

‘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, award winning author of Open Water and Small Worlds

‘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

‘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