A House for Alice: From the Women’s Prize shortlisted author of Ordinary People

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Yet he still wonders if he will ever know anyone the way he knew Melissa, and she in turn is nostalgic for their once safe haven. There are several characters we need to keep track of, and it is often difficult to keep note of how they are related to one another. Through the lives and desires of a typical family, she mourns the dead of Grenfell tower, the death of a father and grandfather and the end of a marriage.

A House for Alice is a very English novel and by that I mean, Diana Evans is re-defining what Englishness is.She is such a dynamic character and the author does a great job showing her conflicted feelings toward her life in the UK and her relationship with her daughters and husband. The novel is a study of identity, race, belonging, the collapse of society and incompetence of contemporary politicians. A House for Alice by Diana Evans is a well-written story that revolves around themes of family, tragedy, and how the definition of home can change over time. Broad in range, vivid in detail, alight often with eloquent language, Evans’ fourth novel, set among a Black community in London, takes time to reveal itself.

The novel is a memorial to the dead of Grenfell who appear throughout the novel, and an invitation to be more conscious, to drag ourselves out of complacency, or complicity. I think Evans does a great job painting a picture of each individual’s personal battles—in fact, there’s not a lot of plot here to speak of. Honestly, if the author was more clear with whose perspective we were in and how the characters in the scene related to each other and Alice/Alice's daughters, I would have likely given it a whole star more. Me duele no darle las 5 estrellas porque me encantaron todas y cada una de las historias entrelazadas pero me habría gustado más que fueran introducidas de manera coherente, pues a veces saltaban de una a otra de manera aleatoria para luego volver a otra y no tenía mucho sentido. Her three daughters are divided on whether she stays or goes, and tasked with realising her dream of a house in Nigeria, conflict stirs and old wounds rise to the surface.

Why would no one share or it not be heavily stated that this is a second body of work featuring these characters! Several characters were opaque to the reader – until the end of the book when Evans removed our veils. A House for Alice is a book that resonates deeply, shedding light on the enduring struggles faced by marginalized communities. But the setting is London which has changed since Ordinary People times: ‘the poverty is louder, fuller.

With her grown children torn about whether they should allow her to go, they feel threatened as the family dynamic might crumble to pieces. I loved the emotionally-charged writing and the complicated depictions of relationships (parents, children, siblings, spouses, friends and lovers) in turmoil and conflict (and some few but transcendent moments of joy). It was an intriguing aspect for sure but considering the disaster itself is not even 10 years old yet, with investigations still very much ongoing and people still very much struggling because of it, I can't help but wonder if it was a bit too early to feature it in a work of fiction.Her fourth novel, A House for Alice, is the highly acclaimed follow-up, for which she was again shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. As the investigation into the tragedy unfolds, it becomes clear that the struggle for justice and equality for people of color is ongoing. I found it easy to keep up with the introduction of new characters throughout the book, due to the the author’s talent of being able to create such distinct personalities, while avoiding boxing characters into stereotypes with cookie-cutter likes and dislikes. I also found the short segment on Cornelius’ afterlife experience a tad disjointed with the overall narrative.