The Lonely Londoners by Samuel Selvon

Description

Published in 1956, The Lonely Londoners is Samuel Selvon’s third novel. Narrated in creolized English, the novel depicts the daily experiences of Moses Alloeta and his friends, migrants from Africa and the Caribbean. Although the novel is renowned for its humour, Moses’ anecdotal narrative shrewdly portrays the class and racial boundaries that the group faces as they strive to establish themselves in London.

Born in Trinidad and of East Indian descent, Selvon migrated to London in 1950 where he continued to write journalism, poetry and short stories. His first novel, A Brighter Sun, was published in 1952.

The Lonely Londoners is regarded as the first – and definitive – novel to represent the Black migrant experience in England (and, more specifically, in London). As such, it is a precursor to novels such as The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi and White Teeth by Zadie Smith.

Full title:

The Lonely Londoners

Published:

1956, London

Publisher:

Allan Wingate

Format:

Book / Illustration / Image

Creator:

Robin Adler [photographer]

Usage terms

Samuel Selvon (front cover and text): © By permission of the Estate of Sam Selvon. Published under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Licence.

Photograph of Samuel Selvon by Robin Adler: © Robin Adler. Published under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Licence.

Held by

British Library

Shelfmark:

RF.2013.a.2

Full catalogue details

This item is featured in:

Banner showing 5 men reading a newspaper in 1948

Hidden histories: Indenture to Windrush

Article by:: Maria del Pilar Kaladeen
Themes:: Authors, artists and activists, Waves of history

Maria del Pilar Kaladeen's great-great-grandmother was one of thousands of migrants who left their homeland in India to work as indentured labourers on the sugar plantations of the Caribbean. Here, she explores the ‘hidden history’ of indenture and the lives of Caribbean people of Indian heritage who migrated to Britain in the Windrush era.

Banner for Lonely Londoners article, showing illustrated book cover of three people

The Lonely Londoners: a new way of reading and writing the city

Article by:: Susheila Nasta
Themes:: Literature 1950–2000, Capturing and creating the modern, Exploring identity

The Lonely Londoners is an iconic chronicle of post-war Caribbean migration to Britain. Susheila Nasta explores how Samuel Selvon created a new means of describing the city by giving voice to the early migrant experience and capturing the romance and disenchantment of London for its new citizens.

Zadie Smith on The Buddha of Suburbia

Article by:: Zadie Smith
Themes:: Capturing and creating the modern, Exploring identity, Literature 1950–2000, Art, music and popular culture

When Zadie Smith encountered The Buddha of Suburbia as a teenager, she found in its description of multiracial South London suburbs an image of her own experience. Here she remembers her first reading of the novel and describes how, on rereading it as an adult, she continues to appreciate Hanif Kureishi's sense of mischief and his depictions of race and class.

View all related articles