A Distant Shore

Both characters are fragile and brittle and spend their lives living in a new housing estate on the outskirts of a rather provincial English village. Shes recently bought a new house, and hes recently found a job as a night watchman. He is black and an immigrant from Africa, escaping from a terrible and bloody civil war, and she is a recently retired music teacher who is running from a scandalous affair. Solomon is a former soldier who is escaping the horrors of a war-ravaged African country, he enters England illegally and is forced to undergo many of the trials and tribulations of a man who is sick, tired and worn out. Dorothy is reeling from a dysfunctional childhood, a loveless marriage and a messy divorce. Estranged from her sister Sheila, she is forced to reconnect and care for her sister who is dying of cancer.

Both are lonely, and full of lifes disappointments and traumas. Dorothy notices "this lonely man who washes his car with a concentration that suggests a difficult life." And Solomon washes with a intensity "that would appear to be an attempt to erase a past that he no longer wishes to be reminded of." Racism, the perils of illegal immigration, the changing face of British society, the consequences of loneliness and loss are all bought to the forefront with such genuine honesty and compassion. Phillips is in complete control of his narrative as the back-stories of Solomon and Dorothy are carefully revealed. This isnt a happy read - forlorn and sorrow permeates the novel. But it is unsurpassed as a contemporary tale of people who are struggling against disaffectedness and isolation.

Michael