I always love a book that delves so deeply into identity, race, and what it means to be loved that I'm left contemplating it long after the story is over.

This book hits the heartstrings in all the right ways. And the author is fearless in her storytelling. Talk about getting into the nitty gritty.

The cultural Jamaican influences, the relationship between Daphne and Connie, the real life of what it means to be Black in South London in the 1980s. Every piece renders you to think deeply about who you are and what you stand for.

If you love a book that challenges your perspective, this one is it for you!

Thank you to Knopf, Vintage, Anchor for the eARC of this amazing book.

This book has a big impact on the complexity of emotions. The tension is high with the strengths and struggles of relationships.

Daphne was introduced to a new student, Cornelius (Connie) Small, who was a tall 12-year-old. He was now the second Black person in her class and wanted to be her friend as he figured they were both Jamaican. Yet, she made it clear that even though her grandmother was from Jamaica, she was born and raised in London and 100 percent English. He was rather annoying but found a way to get her attention.

There were only a handful of characters in this story. Each one was trying to find their way in London which was petrifying at times. They were Black and faced serious issues of racial prejudice. It was controlled by the white majority and police enforcers.

The author highlighted the Brixton riots in 1981 with the dark feelings of confusion, fear and hatred. I had no idea that there was a huge problem in England much like the US. The country was divided and there was no trust with the authorities. Blacks were targeted with searches and too many times accused when they were innocent.

The story was well written with Jamaican Patois -- like broken English but referenced the rich culture. However, the language at the same time slowed down the pace. I found it to be very depressing with the ongoing hardships they faced.

Daphne was trying to find love in her life yet, she instead stumbled upon all sorts of troubling uncertainties. One fear was from Connie’s stepfather, an undocumented immigrant. It felt timely with what’s now happening in our country. It was heartbreaking with relentless obstacles of racial discrimination.

My thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of July 15, 2025.

This story tugged at my heartstrings in every way possible. This coming of age story between two childhood best friends who had to overcome impossible odds, racial tensions and family instability resonated so much with me. My heart went out to Daphne and Connie, and I wanted to protect and support them at every turn.

I enjoyed following Daphne and Connie’s story through the various phases of their lives - the turbulent ones all the way to finding love in each other. However, the jumps in time felt awkward at times. I also appreciated the use of Jamaican Patwa although it slowed my reading a bit. Nonetheless, it added authenticity to the book.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book, the story and the themes. Thank you NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, and Vintage for the ARC!

Jamaica Road.. a beautiful coming of age love story the flows so effortlessly.

This book spoke to my heart and filled me with nostalgia. Jamaica Road transports us to the early 80’s South London where we are introduced to Daphne a first-generation Brit-Jam and Connie, a newly immigrated Jamaican meeting at school, which leads to a lifelong friendship and eventually a relationship. Underneath their beautiful coming of age love story/journey, there are so many complex themes intertwined so smoothly. The character arc and subplots are compelling. Their experiences, internal conflicts and external issues pulled at my heartstrings.

So many themes are explored in this book: single parenthood, immigration, domestic violence, race relations, assimilation, identity, belonging, and the complexities of “never feeling British enough”. The author does an amazing task of weaving in and chronicling real events that took place during the 80’s and early 90’s in South London such as the New Cross house fire in 1981 to the Brixton riots to name a few. To read the perceptive of those who actually had to live through it; how it affected their mindset, identity and community was fascinating. The plot is engaging and unpredictable. Jamaica Road is a fresh, authentic and powerful story! Thank you Netgalley, Knopf, Pantheon and Vintage catalog for sending this book (eARC) in exchange for my honest review! All opinions are my own.

Set in the 1980's, Jamaica Road follows the lives of Daphne, a British girl born to Jamaican parents and Connie an undocumented Jamaican boy living in the same town and going to the same school. Daphne is used to being the only black girl in her class. She keeps her head down and tries not to be noticed. When Connie comes to school, he begins to shake Daphne's world up in ways she could never imagine. The story continues through their adulthood with lots of ins and outs, ups and downs. This IS a good story that covers a lot of ground. The characters, for the most part, are well fleshed out. Much of it is written in the Jamaican dialect (as it should be) and that was a little distracting for me in the beginning. However, as the book went on, I was able to pick up the cadence and finished the novel with no issues. This book is racially charged and contains multiple instances of both racial and domestic violence. These are not gratuitous and are integral to the story. Although the ending came fast and hard, the book was definitely worth the time.

A great story that was an easy read but not easy on the heart. I love learning fresh perspectives through my reading, and this gave me that opportunity. Would read this author again for sure.

am I the only person who gets that feeling as you near the end of a book you are enjoying that is actually almost like worry and dread to find out how it's going to end? where you just get wrapped up and consumed and the page count is dwindling and there doesn't seem to be a resolution that can possibly be satisfying but it just keeps going and then it attempts to end and then it ends and you just feel...disappointed.

four stars for the novel if it had ended a time frame and a half earlier somehow and in someway that did not make that feeling come true.

I received an e-arc from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Next Literary Sensation: Jamaica Road Will Break Your Heart

Lisa Smith's Jamaica Road isn't just another debut novel. It's a raw, pulsing story of love and identity that grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go.

Set in 1980s South London, the story follows Daphne, a young Black girl who loses herself in books to escape being the only person of colour in her class. But between the gritty docklands of the Thames and the warm shores of Calabash Bay, Jamaica, she finds something unexpected – a connection that blurs the lines between friendship and love, forcing her to question everything she thought she knew about belonging.

Smith writes with the eye of a documentary filmmaker and the soul of a poet. Drawing from her own experience as a London-born child of Jamaican parents, she captures the charged atmosphere of Thatcher's Britain with stunning precision. The result is both intimate and sweeping – a love story wrapped in a social commentary that never feels preachy.

The novel's decade-long span lets us watch these characters grow, stumble, and find their feet again. Smith doesn't shy away from the hard truths about race, class, and the families we're born into versus the ones we choose. Instead, she leans into the mess and finds beauty there.

Jamaica Road hits shelves in June 2025, and if the fierce five-way auction it sparked is any indication, this book will be the one everyone's talking about. Smith isn't just a new voice in British literature – she's a force of nature.

Jamaica Road is a book about Daphne and Connie, young black people in London in the early 1980s. Daphne is a native-born citizen, but Connie is in the UK illegally, overstaying a visa, in a time when racism and prejudice again black people in Great Britain was leading to deaths and wrongful detainment. The book examines what it means to be black, in a fraught time where every choice you made could lead to conflict with those around you, while also examining a love story between friends. Connie and Daphne become friends out of necessity as they are both the only black students at their grade level, and each chapter examines how their relationship grows and changes as they grow up and grow closer and apart due to life circumstances.
This book is told exclusively from Daphne's point of view and uses a mix of "standard" English and Jamaican patois in the dialogue, which was initially difficult for me to decipher, but I found it did lend itself to the overall enjoyment within the experience of reading this book. I also like how the author used real news stories pulled from the headlines of the 80s and 90s to touch on the real impact racism had on the lives of black people in Great Britain at the time. I am choosing to rate 4 stars overall because while I very much enjoyed the book, the cast of characters, and the writing, there were jumps in time that felt disjointed and somewhat difficult to follow, and the ending felt abrupt and not fully fleshed out.
Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this novel for review.

Jamaica Road explores a period of time and history I knew nothing about: early 1980s England, with a focus on race riots.

The ARC isn’t as polished as some, which led to weird jumps in the storyline and moments of confusion where literal years have passed, but there’s no break in the paragraph.

The topic is interesting and the characters are likable, but the story moved slowly. I think this will be stronger in its final version, when the edits and formatting have been cleaned up and bring the story together.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The writing was beautiful and it was a deep read overall! It wasn’t quite was I was expecting but still a great book!

Jamaica Road hits like a quiet storm—slow to ignite, then delivering an emotional gut punch. Set in 1980s South London, it follows Daphne, a reserved Black girl who is just trying to go unnoticed, until Connie, a bold and captivating Jamaican boy, enters her life and changes everything.

The book delves into themes of race, identity, immigration, and love without being preachy.

Lisa Smith uses her words deliberately; every moment matters. This isn’t just a coming-of-age story—it’s a survival story. It’s about discovering your voice in a world that seeks to silence you.

I loved this book! I am an American born descendant of two Caribbean parents so I understood very clearly the struggles for Caribbean immigrant's described in Jamaica Road. To Caribbean people England and America are lands of opportunity. England especially is supposed to welcome Jamaicans with both arms but the reality is that historically, immigrants met racism and struggle. The book mentions historical events such as riots and other civil disturbances and makes the social climate in England clear. The love story centers Daphne, a British born Jamaican descendent and Connie a Jamaican immigrant. Other themes are carefully woven in with events surrounding the two. Oh! The patois in the book just makes it very Jamaican! Even if the reader isn’t Jamaican it’s very phonetically spelled so it’s easy to understand, but if the reader is Jamaican or other Caribbean islander, it makes the book with the sayin we hear from our parents and grandparents! Bravo for an amazing story! I cannot say enough about this book!

I enjoyed reading this book and liked how the friendship/relationship between Daphne and Connie developed. At some points, the writing would become a bit dull, but I did enjoy most of it. The dialogue was strong, and the plot was good as well.

This is the story of Connie and Daphne, teenagers in 1980s London, and what a story it is! Both Black, they live in Little Jamaica, where racism, poverty and domestic issues abound.

Daphne, American-born, has been searching for her father as long as she can remember. Her mother has not been helpful, and when she finally meets her father, she figures out why. Connie, an immigrant, has been trying without success to get his mother to leave the abusive man they are living with. In addition to Connie’s and Daphne’s fraught relationship there are serious racial incidents that somehow never get resolved. Daphne finds herself more and more drawn to action, while Connie feels he has enough going on in his personal life.

But Jamaica is the homeland, and when they go back it definitely has a different feeling to it. For example, it’s great to look around and see nothing but faces that look like yours. Maybe because of this their lives seem less stressful with maybe fewer racial issues. However, even though they came to help out family, it doesn’t take long before they need to go back to London.

Author Smith has given us a good look at these two, along with family members and their community. Her ending is a bit cryptic, but she sure keeps our interest throughout, and the lead-up to the end had me on the edge of my chair.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The immersiveness of it shined throughout the book. Watching Daphne and Connie grow up in a time of high racial tension and trying to navigate, the growing pains of being teenagers and familial drama. I don't have any critique other than the format of my ARC was a little off, so it took me a minute to figure out that we were following them as they grew up. Definitely will be recommending this when it comes out.

I requested this book after a visit to Jamaica. It really made me feel that I was once there again while reading this book. Close your eyes and go on the Jamaica Road

This book was such an emotional read. Two friends who face lifes challenges as their relationship evolves. This book has so much depth. Loved it!

The writing is good. I think writing in the characters voices made the story immersive, however it was also difficult me to establish a flow to reading this because the words are written in an accent at times. The pacing of the story is good

Friendship, romance, decisions, this book had a lot to offer. I appreciated the how the story unfolded over time. Thank you for the opportunity to read this one!