Brixton Beach, By Roma Tearne

This cross-cultural saga based on three generations of Sri Lankans – the youngest of whom, Alice Fonseka, winds up in Lambeth – picks up the threads of Roma Tearne's previous two novels: civil war in Sri Lanka, Tamil terrorism and immigration.

Here, she draws a parallel between the bombs which render life cheap in Sri Lanka and the 7 July London terror attacks: it begins with a bomb and ends with one, a narrative device which could have fallen victim to drawing crass comparisons but Tearne's subtlety makes it a cleverly executed one. Recently selected for the new Channel 4 Book Club, the novel is bound to gain popularity - deservedly so.