A year ago, I was complaining to someone that there weren’t enough books by and about Trinidadian people (and West Indian people more broadly) in British bookshops. A few months later, I received a copy of Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud and it was exactly the kind of book I’d been craving.
This Lovely City is the latest novel to highlight the experiences of the Windrush generation in London. Part-love story, part-mystery, Louise Hare’s stunning historical debut is undoubtedly one of my must-read books of 2020.
Take It Back by Kia Abdullah is a legal thriller that tells the story of a white disabled teenager who accuses four Muslim boys of raping her. Who is telling the truth?
“Feminist, man-hating filth.” This is the cover quote that prompted me to read Foul Is Fair. Any book that is described in this way is one I should be reading, right?
I’ve always sensed that Britain is racist. Discovering the extent of that racism, mainly by learning about this country’s violent colonial past and involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, has disturbed and angered me immensely. The wilder and more violent Britain’s treatment of Black people becomes, the more I doubt it will change.
Black History Month may be over in the UK but it’s always a good time to celebrate black British authors and stories.
How have ideas about white women figured in the history of racism? This is the main question that Vron Ware poses in her book Beyond The Pale: White Women, Racism and History.
I recently read a novel that was so compelling, I think it’s been permanently etched into my mind and heart. It moved and disturbed me in equal measures and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. That book is Women Talking by Miriam Toews.