Infinite Books

“Small Worlds” is the second novel by a young British-Ghananian writer and photographer, Caleb Azumah Nelson. It’s a contemporary coming-of-age story of Stephen, whose family emigrated from Ghana to find a better life in England.

The novel is written in a poetic, documentary style as we follow Stephen’s path to adulthood. He is a gentle soul, loves jazz, especially Coltrane, and plays trumpet, dreaming about becoming a musician. However, his father wants him to have a “real” occupation, saying that survival is more important than self-discovery and that he didn’t emigrate from Ghana to have his son play in a club or cook (another of Stephen’s ideas is becoming a chef.)

Stephen creates ‘small worlds’ to feel validated and finally free. His “small world” may be a dance floor where he surrenders to the rhythm or a space between people, which he tries to fill with meaningful words when he’s with his girlfriend. He and his friends are also acutely aware of the racial tension in London, police brutality, and challenges for Black people when they try to, as he says, “occupy those bodies of theirs.” Often, it’s simply dangerous to be a young Black man in London.

It’s a slow-moving novel that sometimes feels more like a poem with repeating phrases. Music is essential in this book, so keeping with the theme, the repetitions sound like a chorus line. Many musings about remembering and forgetting come from Stephen’s building bridges between his roots in Ghana and his new place, England. Sometimes, the style became even too poetic for my taste, losing its impact. However, I found Caleb Azumah Nelson’s latest novel to be a fascinating expression of the author’s fresh voice, filled with tenderness and humility.

SMALL WORLDS by Caleb Azumah Nelson, Dreamscape Media, 2023