Attic Child

In 1907, twelve-year-old Celestine spends most of his days locked in an attic room of a large house by the sea. He was taken from his homeland in Africa and made to work as an unpaid servant. As the years pass, he struggles to recall his mother's face and, at times, even his real name, yet he still dreams of the family he left behind.

Decades later, Lowra, an orphaned girl raised in wealth and privilege, is sent to that same attic. Beneath the floorboards she finds an old porcelain doll and an unusual necklace of beads and a claw. Most puzzling of all is a sentence etched into the wall behind an old cupboard, written in a language no one can identify. These objects bring her a strange sense of comfort and convince her that she was not the first child to be imprisoned in that room.

The novel alternates between the two children's stories and explores family secrets, love and loss, and questions of identity and belonging. Author Lola Jaye views these themes through the lens of Black British history, connecting two children who are separated by nearly a century.