The Same Earth, By Kei Miller

The hazards of homecoming lie at the heart of the poet Kei Miller's charm-filled debut. Imelda Richardson is a cross 18-year-old when she first leaves the small Jamaican village of Watersgate for England.

Forced to return a few years later following her mother's death, she's not sure what to expect. The air of Watersgate may be sweet and the sun hot, but its small-town mentality proves as stifling as ever.

Gossip still follows the serious-minded Imelda, not least because of her revived relationship with laidback Rastaman, Joseph Martin. A breezy good-humour pervades Miller's portrait of island life.