Dominoes

• Author: Phoebe Mcintosh
• Genre: Contemporary 
• Publication Date: March 7, 2024
• Publisher: Random House

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

CONTENT WARNING: racist microaggressions, mention of enslavement, grief, discussion of police brutality and institutional racism, racism

A tender and provocative debut novel about a mixed-race British woman who makes the shocking discovery in the days leading up to her wedding that her fiancé’s family may have enslaved her ancestors.

Dominoes opens in London, twenty-nine days before the wedding of a young couple. Layla is a mixed-race woman–with a Black, Jamaican mother and a white father she’s never met–and Andy is a white man of Scottish descent. When they first meet at a party, they can’t believe how instant their chemistry is, and how quickly their relationship unfolds. But the commonalities between the two outweigh their differences; funnily enough, they even share a last name: McKinnon.

Layla’s best friend, Sera, isn’t so sure–about Andy, or the fact that her best friend is engaged to marry a white man. As Layla’s wedding date approaches, Sera prompts her friend to research her heritage more, and in the undertaking, Layla makes a shocking discovery: It’s not just possible but extremely likely that Andy’s ancestors enslaved Layla’s in Jamaica, and that the money from that enslavement helped build his family’s wealth.

What seemed like a fairy-tale romance is suddenly derailed as Layla begins to uncover parts of her history and identity that she never could have imagined–or had simply learned to ignore. The task takes her to Jamaica for the first time, where she meets family members for the first time, and uncovers truths about her family’s history that will change the way she thinks about herself and her future. As the clock ticks down to her wedding–four days, three days, two days–Layla must make a decision: commit to the man she loves or expose a shameful history that has gone unspoken for far too long.

Conversation-starting, open-hearted, and unforgettable, Dominoes shows us that only by fully confronting the past can one hope to move forward.

This is one of those books that I was offered by a publisher, and I’m so glad it was offered to me. Dominoes is a book that I hadn’t heard about prior to that email, but it sounded fascinating and I can’t resist a deep dive into family history in a story, especially in a contemporary fiction book.

The start of the story sets up the frame for everything that is going to happen, allowing us to get to know Layla and the circles that she moves in. She’s a teacher, works with her best friend Sera, and gets into a relationship with a white man who seems like a dream and coincidentally has the same last name as her (no relation). The relationship unfolds at record speed, helped along by the pandemic restrictions, and before long, they are in the final countdown to their wedding.

But as the big day gets closer, Layla’s life suddenly becomes difficult. She finds herself feeling more and more distant from Sera at a time when she feels the need for her bestie more than ever, and can’t help but think that the fact that Andy is white is contributing to the strained interactions between Sera and herself, but wonders if they are just drifting apart. 

When Sera pushes Layla to research her own background and family history, as well as the origins of her own last name, Layla takes the suggestion and makes a shocking discovery: Andy’s ancestors more than likely enslaved Layla’s ancestors in Jamaica, and the compensation for the loss of income after emancipation contributed to their fortune today, Layla experiences an internal crisis and isn’t sure who she can discuss this with. 

I found Layla to be immensely intriguing and a highly likable and relatable character. She’s thoughtful, insightful, intelligent, and not impulsive. Initially, her conflict seems to be between fighting and accepting change in her relationship with Sera, as she struggles to accept that they appear to be drifting apart. But as the story goes on, the author introduces some deeper themes and discusses them through the lens of Layla’s experiences—racism and how being mixed-race affects Layla’s self-concept and place in society as a woman of color; the pressure to play up Eurocentric features in various situations, such as straightening her hair for events; how interracial relationships can impact friendships; police brutality and institutional racism; the lingering effects of enslavement and how it still impacts people nearly 200 years later; and how commonly racist microaggressions occur and why:

“I was always asked where I was from … No … no, where I’m really from. Because it was obvious there would be something—an interesting mix of this or that—that everyone was entitled to know about.”

While the story starts out lighthearted, it moves into a much heavier topic matter, but the author still manages to maintain a tone that incorporates humor and fun into the story. The main character is still a young woman, and life has to include fun. There are also some flashback moments that highlight major experiences in Layla’s life that had a huge impact on the woman she is today. I loved getting to know her better over the course of the story, and seeing how she absorbed new information and adapted to that and new situations, although reading large portions of dialogue in Jamaican patois made me feel like I was missing out on actually hearing one of the most lyrical and great-sounding accents, so the next time I read this one will probably be on audiobook. Overall, this is a fantastic book, and I found it to be really enjoyable. This is one that I can easily recommend.

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