Clover's Child

A love affair between a British girl and a West Indian soldier in 1960s London has heart-wrenching consequences When 18-year-old Dot meets Sol, she feels that love has arrived at last. Solomon Arbuthnott is a man who can bring color and warmth to her drab life in 1960s London—and what's more, he is a young, handsome soldier with excellent prospects. He is someone who wants to give her everything she has dreamed of; someone who can promise her blue skies, laughter, sun, and love. And for a while, life is truly like a song. They stroll hand-in-hand by the Serpentine, dance cheek-to-cheek in Soho's smoky bars, and begin to plan their idyllic future, growing old together in Sol's ancestral home on the island of St. Lucia. But this is 1961, and East End girls don't date West Indian boys, let alone fall in love with them and leave the country. They stay at home and live the life their parents planned for them. Even if it leaves them lonelier than they ever thought possible. Even if it rips their heart in two. Includes book club notes.