Orlaine McDonald’s exquisite debut No Small Thing maps a lineage of mothers and daughters with poetic grace. The novel follows the lives of Livia, Mickey and Summer, a Black British family living under the same roof after years of estrangement. As a young biracial woman, Livia longed for a freedom beyond motherhood, and left her family behind. Her daughter, Mickey, kept searching for her mum, grieving this loss of connection. Now Mickey is a grown-up with her own child, Summer, and they need a place to stay.
They end up at Livia’s door on a South London estate. The uncomfortable cohabitation that follows speaks to the painful legacy of maternity, the stigma faced by single mothers trying to survive and the struggles of growing up mixed race and working class in a society structured by anti-Blackness. In her moving portrayal of Summer, McDonald deftly depicts the difficulties many young people contend with: unstable homes, traumatic histories, neurodiversity and school environments that smite bright children who do not conform.
Like many kids, Summer is continually made to feel like a burden. She thrives in interactions with Earl, the elder who lives upstairs, known for the trailing greenery of his balcony garden. Earl notices Summer’s vulnerability, and nurtures her, teaching her the Black history untaught in school. This novel acknowledges the possibility of breaking the generational cycles of harm. The narrative hums with longing, addressing the harm that comes from feeling un-loved and unseen. But McDonald offers such hope for change in the face of the powers that be. This beautiful book will stay with you. Hold it tightly.
No Small Thing by Orlaine McDonald is out now (Serpent’s Tail, £16.99). You can buy it from The Big Issue shop on Bookshop.org, which helps to support The Big Issue and independent bookshops.
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