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Little Big Man
Regular price £20.00 Save £-20.00Stanley J. Browne is an actor, and he has been an actor all his life. Born to a Jamaican mother in a London suburb, he began rehearsing for the role of survivor from an early age. From birth he knew nothing but a home filled with love and the vibrancy of a Caribbean culture, but this changes when his mother is diagnosed with schizophrenia.
In this honest and gripping memoir, Stanley reflects on a childhood and adolescence torn apart by mental disorder. Because of it, he adopts the mantle of 'man of the house' as he is forced to scavenge for food and miss school, with his two sisters, to care for his baby brother. His life is further fragmented as they yo-yo in and out of the care system and Stanley must face the reality of being separated from his siblings.
An intelligent and sensitive child, Stanley descends into a life of crime and drug abuse. During his time spent in various young offender's institutions and prisons he battles with addiction and slowly begins to turn his life around.
Set against a backdrop of 1970s poverty, racism and hardship, Little Big Man is a powerful story of generational trauma and one man's determination to heal the wounds of the past. Most of all, it is a book about the universal desire for love, belonging and the search to find an authentic voice through the redemptive power of creativity and recovery.
Womanish
Regular price £9.99 Save £-9.99Courage and outrage inform 13 essays about black womanhood.
Searing in its emotional honesty, Womanish is an essay collection by award-winning author Kim McLarin that explores what it means to be a Black woman in today's turbulent times. Writing with candor, wit and vulnerability on topics including dating after divorce, depression, parenting older children, the Obamas, and the often fraught relations between white and black women, McLarin unveils herself at the crossroads of being black, female, middle-aged and, ultimately, American. Powerful and timely, McLarin not only draws upon a lifetime of experiences to paint an intimate portrait of a Black woman trying to come to terms with the world around her, but also exposes a society trying to come to terms with Black women.
The Space Between Black and White
Regular price £8.99 Save £-8.99Illuminating her inner journey growing up mixed-race in Britain, Esua Jane Goldsmith's unique memoir exposes the isolation and ambiguities that often come with being 'an only'.
Raised in 1950s South London and Norfolk with a white, working-class family, Esua's education in racial politics was immediate and personal. From Britain and Scandinavia to Italy and Tanzania, she tackled inequality wherever she saw it, establishing an inspiring legacy in the Women's lib and Black Power movements. Plagued by questions of her heritage and the inability to locate all pieces of herself, she embarks on a journey to Ghana to find the father who may have the answers.
A tale of love, comradeship, and identity crises, Esua's rise to the first Black woman president of Leicester University Students' Union and Queen Mother of her village, is inspiring, honest, and full of heart.
Are We Home Yet?
Regular price £8.99 Save £-8.99Spanning the years from 1935 to 2010, Are We Home Yet? is the moving and funny story of a girl and her mother.
As a girl, Katy accidentally discovers her mother is earning money as a sex worker at the family home, rupturing their bond. As an adult, Katy contends with grief and mental health challenges before she and her mother attempt to heal their relationship. From Canada, to Leeds and Jamaica, and exploring shame, immigration and class, the pair share their stories but struggle to understand each other's choices in a fast-changing world.
By revealing their truths, can these two strong women call a truce on their hostilities and overcome the oppressive ghosts of the past?
Rest in Power
Regular price £12.99 Save £-12.99On February 26th 2012 seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin was walking home with a bag of Skittles and a can of juice when a fatal encounter with a gun-wielding neighbourhood watchman ended his young life. In a matter of weeks, Trayvon Martin's name would be spoken by President Obama, honored by professional athletes, and passionately discussed all
over traditional and social media. Trayvon's parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, driven by their intense love for their lost son, launched a nationwide campaign for justice that would change the USA and the world.
Five years after his tragic death, Travyon Martin has become a symbol of social justice activism, as has his hauntingly familiar image: the photo of a young man, wearing his favourite hoodie and gazing silently at the camera. But who was Trayvon Martin, before he became an icon? And how did one black child's death become the match that lit a civil rights movement?
Rest in Power, told through the compelling alternating narratives of Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, answers those questions from the most intimate of sources. It's the story of the beautiful and complex child they lost, the cruel unresponsiveness of the police and the hostility of the legal system, and the inspiring journey they took from grief and pain to power, and from tragedy and senselessness to meaning.