Mainly set in 1948, the plot focuses on the diaspora of Jamaican immigrants, who, escaping economic hardship on their own "small island", move to England, the Mother Country, for which the men have fought during World War II.

While the novel focuses on the narratives of Gilbert and Hortense as they adjust to life in England, after a reception that is not quite the warm embrace that they had hoped for, the interracial relationship between Queenie and Michael is central to the plot and the connections that are established between all of the characters.

Relying on memoirs and oral histories, she describes in heartwrenching detail the lives of four individuals in 1948 England".

I wanted to start in 1948 with two women, one white, one black, in a house in Earls Court, but when I asked myself, 'Who are these people and how did they get here?'

[12] A stage adaptation by Helen Edmundson[13] opened at the National Theatre in April 2019[14] and the production was discussed with members of the cast on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour in May 2019.