All the Lonely People
Published: September 21, 2022
“All the Lonely People,” a winning new novel by English author Mike Gayle, launches with a frothy sitcom premise, but quickly sails into rougher waters – first and foremost, the crisis of loneliness.
It’s a timely topic. Britain appointed its first minister of loneliness in 2018, citing sobering statistics and a host of physical and mental ills related to social isolation. The pandemic lockdowns of 2020 exacerbated the issue. With his novel, Gayle sets out to show how one individual slides from lively to lonely – and then shares possible avenues of escape.
Hubert, a dapper Jamaican immigrant in his 80s, lives quietly with his cat in the borough of Bromley. One day the doorbell rouses him from his favorite armchair. On the step stands a young blond woman and her toddler from next door. New to the neighborhood, the duo – mom Ashleigh and daughter Layla – have come to introduce themselves. Hubert, startled into near silence by Ashleigh’s buoyant chattiness, doesn’t engage.
Days later, Ashleigh and Layla are back. This time they need help. Ashleigh’s got a job interview, the babysitter canceled, and could Hubert please look after Layla for “twenty minutes ... half an hour tops”? Appalled at the request but even more uncomfortable with Ashleigh’s desperate tears, Hubert passes her a clean handkerchief and agrees. “Me will help you out, okay?” he says. “Just tell me what it is you want me to do and me do it.”