Small Island by Andrea Levy

This enjoyable book is currently very topical, as Gilbert Joseph arrives in London from Jamaica on the Windrush.
Jamaica is one of the larger Caribbean Islands, but when he returns there after serving in RAF during the war, Gilbert realises how small the Island is, and takes the opportunity to return to London as soon as he can. His wife Hortense joins him after a few weeks, when he has found a room to rent in the house run by Queenie Blyth, and finds 1948 post war London a drab and dreary place, after all the colour and vibrancy of Jamaica.
One of the features of this book is that each of the main characters tells their own story, but we also see how they are viewed by one other. In the opening chapter Hortense Gilbert is far from impressed by her husband, and in the next chapter we read what events conspired against Gilbert's best efforts to welcome Hortense to their new London home. It is quite comical.
Another feature of the book is that although the action takes place during a few days in 1948, much of the book's content has the characters telling us about "before". There are some childhood recollections, including life and education in Jamaica, but very largely it is describing events during the war.
For all the opening chapters make Joseph Gilbert look like a loser, he is an observant and able narrator, and we are treated to keen descriptions of racial tensions and prejudice both during the war and in the post war period.  For us white Brits, it is an uncomfortable read in places.
As the book progresses, we learn more about the main characters, how they met, and how it is they react in the way they do in 1948. The interplay of 1948 and before sets up some intriguing mysteries, some of which become clearer as the earlier stories are told.
The middle chapters are far from boring; there is plenty of action to keep us entertained, but it can feel a bit disparate, as each character tells their own story.  The final chapters on the other hand, are a masterpiece. Just as we have the measure of each character and think we know them, they surprise us again and again, chapter after chapter, to the end of the book.