Jo McMillan

Jo McMillan

The Accidental Immigrants | The Happiness Factory | Motherland | News | About

Talking about The Accidental Immigrants

#01: What were the seeds for this story?

#02: The novel begins: ‘Bombs are falling all the time somewhere in the world, but this one was different because this bomb fell on them.’ Where does that first line come from?

#03: The dedication is: ‘For all the people who lose their lives trying to reach a safer shore’. Why did you choose to say that?

#04: What do you think can we do to counter anti-immigrant narratives?

#05: You’ve lived in China, Malaysia and now in Germany. What has it been like being a migrant in several different places?

What happens when you suddenly find yourself an unwanted foreigner?

“The Accidental Immigrants is a triumph: ferociously political and yet deeply personal, it is a soaring feat of the imagination, tethered firmly to the here and now.”
Aidan Cottrell-Boyce

The Accidental Immigrants is about the hostile environment spreading across Europe and what it’s like to be caught up in it.

This is political fiction based on the facts of the years since Brexit, and an outsider’s insider take on what’s happened to the UK: the fallout from the referendum, the rise of Farage and the far right, and the increasing xenophobia towards people on the move.

Set on an island that’s a mirror image of Britain, it’s both allegory and warning. It asks: what happens when you suddenly find yourself an unwanted foreigner? And just how hard is it to get into the UK?

The Accidental Immigrants came out with Bluemoose Books on 20 February 2025. Download a press release here.