A four-year-old boy obsessed with Batman, his magazine-editing mum who is having an affair with a bloke from the Home Office, and a teenage asylum seeker from Nigeria who calls herself Little Bee - these are the characters at the heart of Chris Cleave's powerful new novel, The Other Hand, which examines the controversial issue of immigration.

Each one of the characters is struggling to find his or her own true identity, and as the author charts this soul-searching, he also examines the thorny issue of what happens to foreign nationals when they arrive on our shores without the correct paperwork.

The Oxford University graduate, who studied experimental psychology, is no stranger to controversy.

His first novel, Incendiary, which detailed the aftermath of a terrorist attack on London, was published, by coincidence, on July 7, 2005, the day terrorist bombers attacked.

The tragedy did not prevent the novel from being an international bestseller, and The Other Hand, could be equally successful, even though it also contains a number of horrific scenes.

The 35-year-old was inspired to write about immigration after doing a holiday job at Campsfield House detention centre in Kidlington, in the early 1990s, where detainees recently held a hunger strike.

He spoke to a number of the detainees while he served food to them, and was horrified to hear of their traumatic experiences.

Speaking from his home in Kingston-upon-Thames, he told The Guide: "I immediately realised I wanted to write about this issue but it took me a dozen years before I felt ready as a writer to tackle it.

"I don't think my writing is very controversial - I am just trying to tell an entertaining story about things people try not to think about.

"These stories are in the papers all the time, and I am trying to find the human being among the statistics.

"My job as a writer is to choose the stories that exemplify the times we are living through.

"I start with the characters and I'm not one of these writers who really plans the plot out in advance. I've tried to make the voice of Little Bee funny and engaging because I don't want to lecture people."

In alternating chapters, Cleave very adeptly pulls off the trick of telling the story convincingly in two narrative voices - first Little Bee's and then Sarah O'Rourke's, who first meets the 16-year-old when she takes a beach holiday in Nigeria.

To say that the dream holiday turns into a nightmare is an understatement. The beach scene will pray on your mind for a long time after you have finished this stunning book.

Cleave tells a believable story about the way the UK government handles immigration in the 21st century but he never preaches, allowing the reader to make up his or her own mind.

Like magazine editor Sarah O'Rourke, I found myself feeling ashamed of the way this country treats some asylum seekers, and wondering how long it will take before the situation changes.

The Other Hand is published by Sceptre, price £12.99.