I was right about the structure of this book being good. I found that it led me through very well. I never felt lost as I have done with other books which employ multiple timelines and viewpoints. As I observed, each chapter is written from the viewpoint of one of the 4 main characters. The chapters are grouped into sections. Each section is set in one of the 2 timeframes: "before" [war years and just after] and "1948". The chapters are contiguous in time within the section.
Although the book is ostensibly about the Jamaicans arriving in England, it has a lot more to offer in terms of insight into that time period: life in wartime London, post-war India and a lot of perspectives on prejudice in general. I was quite shocked by the extent to which this seems to dominate society at that time. People seemed to really compartmentalize themselves and others by race, gender and social class. Although there are many derogatory terms for black people quoted, one that made me sit up was "darkie". Although perhaps less coarse than many, I clearly recall it being used a lot by older people when I was a child. Fortunately it seems to have died out.
Although it is quite a long book and took me a while to read. The structure and the pace of the book kept me turning the pages. In particular, towards the end, things speeded up and I found it quite unput-downable.
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