The Lonely Londoners

The Lonely Londoners (1956) by Trinidadian novelist Samuel Selvon follows Caribbean and African immigrants in London during the 1950s. Selvon wrote it is shortly after moving to London at 27, after he stayed in a hotel in South Kensington as a newcomer to England. This novel is Selvon’s third. The Lonely Londoners is semi-autobiographical. In interviews, Selvon has discussed how he and other young migrants from Trinidad regarded London as the “centre of the world.” Selvon has said he had major writer’s block in telling this story until he stopped trying to make the English “proper” and wrote in the dialogue of the people he knew well (creolized English). It remains a vital work in the literature of decolonialism and is the first work to detail the lives of black immigrants in London.

Its themes include internalized racism, class pretension, migration, and loneliness. The story is less event-centric than story-centric, with the narrative based off one of the stories the young men share with one another. It is told in a unique third-person voice that shifts perspectives often.

Moses Aloetta lives in a small apartment in London. Trinidadian-born, he misses his homeland after six years of living in England. He is a good decade older than “the boys” who frequent the rooms and kitchens of his place every Sunday. Most of “the boys” are also Trinidadian (and some hail from Africa), but unlike Moses, they remain hopeful that they can become big successes in London. This includes “Five Past Twelve,” a Royal Air Force cadet from Barbados who loves to date multiple women at the same time.



One day, mutual friends ask Moses to meet Galahad (real name: Henry Oliver) at a train station. Though Moses has never met the guy, their shared nationality impels him to help the new-comer. While at the station, he meets his friend from Jamaica, Tolroy. Tolroy is there to pick up his mother; little does he know, his mother invited three other members of the family to live with him. He’s angry that they don’t seem to know or care that there is no way he can pay to support them all.

Moses takes Galahad back to his apartment. He answers all of the young man’s overly eager questions. Before bed that night, Moses remembers his life in Trinidad.

The next morning, the confident and optimistic Galahad walks to an employment agency. He gets lost along the route. Fortunately, Moses figured Galahad would get lost and is not far in finding him and redirecting him toward the employment agency. On the way, he tells Galahad that he must not rely solely on a welfare check, for that would look bad for all the other immigrants who want the chance to make good use of England’s opportunities. Galahad agrees immediately. As “coloured” people, they must take extra precaution to avoid being seen as “leeches.”



Galahad soon lands a decent-paying job in a factory. While he saves some of this money, he mostly spends it on a nice wardrobe.

Moses then thinks about his former roommate, Captain (who went by “cap”), a young law student from Nigeria. He had all the skills to make it honestly in England, but none of the drive. He ended up spending all of his cash on prostitutes and cigarettes. When he needed more money, he simply flirted with wealthy white women.

Back to the present, the wide-eyed Galahad meets various immigrants who live in the motel that Moses rents. This includes Bart (real name: Bartholomew), a Latino-passing man who refuses to lend out money. He’s a comically stingy man who, now that he’s in England, doesn’t want other immigrants coming in and making things “too black.” Bart fell in love with a white woman named Beatrice and the two considered marriage. However, Beatrice’s father refused the match, and the two stopped seeing each other. Bart finds work as a bouncer at one of Beatrice’s favorite clubs; he hopes to spot her one day.



While Bart fears other black people, many white business owners see the influx of immigrants as a chance to boost business. They open cigar stores and restaurants that target the preferences of certain immigrants.

“The boys” are fascinated by prostitutes and exchange stories of their experience with “working girls.” White prostitutes are their favorite. And they openly confess that dating a young white girl would be a dream come true.

Galahad falls harder in love with London. He loves the light displays at Piccadilly Circus and the general bustle of the city. But his idealistic ruminations are interrupted when a young child yells out “look at the black man!” Galahad takes this in stride and tries to befriend the young child, but both the mother and child back away.



In one famous stream-of-conscious scene, the unnamed narrator talks about the sexual energy in Hyde Park. It wasn’t unusual for interracial relationships to begin there. One day, a white man even asks him to come back to his house to have sex with (presumably) his wife; Moses agrees, and is paid for the encounter. Despite the indignities, Moses says it’s nearly worth dealing with the cold winters and sparse food just to enjoy life during the summer.

The narrator concludes The Lonely Londoners by saying people from around the world are willing to move there and put up with all sort of hardships just be at “the centre of the world.”