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…
