Books by Jo McMillan
The Accidental Immigrants
by Jo McMillan
This cleverly conceived, inventively written political fable proves propulsively readable. Dedicated to ‘all the people who lose their lives trying to reach a safer shore,’ The Accidental Immigrants centres on a British couple living on an island in the Mediterranean that, as the Far Right rises, find themselves first disconcerted but then displaced and torn apart by increasingly totalitarian state policies and policing. McMillan’s characters might inhabit a Looking-Glass universe, but in reading this incisive critique of anti-immigration politics we stare straight back at ourselves. This humane, sensitive novel is insidiously shocking; and it looks set to become even more politically relevant given recent electoral results in the UK, Europe and the US.
Interviews where books by Jo McMillan were recommended
The Best Political Novels of 2025: The Orwell Prize for Fiction
From a book based on the actual love letters a British prime minister sent to his mistress in the run-up to World War I, to a fantastical tale that takes its cue from the Epic of Gilgamesh, there’s a wide variety of novels to choose from on the shortlist of this year’s Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. The comments are from the judging panel, chaired this year by British novelist Jim Crace.
