Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (Penguin paperback, £8.99)

The Little Apple bookshop has been running a reading group for the past twenty years. Homegoing is a recent choice. It is a very ambitious first novel which was seven years in the making.

The book starts off in 18th century Africa, then the Gold Coast, and two sisters. Subsequently we are introduced to two members of each new generation, both unaware of the other's existence due to the separation of the sisters at the very beginning of the story.

The plight of each descendent reflects the history of Africa and its people. The story winds its way back to present day Ghana, taking in the terrible wrongdoings of America's treatment of slaves and convicts, through segregation and oppression.

The book does not does shy aware from the responsibility of African tribes which sold captives to the British, Dutch and French in the full knowledge that they would be sent abroad as slaves. There is no simple version of history here.

It is a very brave and resourceful author who can provide the reader with such wonderful characters and yet leave them behind as each chapter passes. I would happily have read a whole book about any of the characters. However this is a feat that Gyasi pulls off with flying colours, as the characterisation of her huge cast is consistent and adept throughout. Each chapter feels like a real person’s life. Their hopes and struggles are universal.

The running theme is that of love, between man and woman, parent and child and person and country. There is a big question about identity too.

This is one of those books which makes you think about issues, teaches you a little about geography and history, and has a social conscience. I loved it. Luckily, so did the reading group.

Philippa Morris, Little Apple bookshop