Colin Grant Boeken

'A remarkable oral history of black postwar British life... Homecoming is an extraordinary and compelling book' Daily Telegraph Homecoming draws on over a hundred first-hand interviews, archival recordings and memoirs by the women and men who came to Britain from the West Indies between the late 1940s and the early 1960s. In their own words, we witness the transition from the optimism of the first post-war arrivals to the race riots of the late 1950s. We hear from nurses in Manchester; bus drivers in Bristol; seamstresses in Birmingham; teachers in Croydon; dockers in Cardiff; inter-racial lovers in High Wycombe, and Carnival Queens in Leeds. These are stories of hope and regret, of triumphs and challenges, brimming with humour, anger and wisdom. Together, they reveal a rich tapestry of Caribbean British lives. Homecoming is an unforgettable portrait of a generation, which brilliantly illuminates an essential and much-misunderstood chapter of our history. ** A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week** **A Daily Telegraph Book of the Year**

Discover the history, understand the struggle and celebrate the achievements and legacy of the Windrush generation in modern Britain.Windrush uses the arrival of a significant naval ship to explore the history of post-war migration in Britain. It explores the treatment of Black people and the struggles they faced and continue to face as well as celebrating the legacy of the Windrush generation in modern Britain.

A memoir told through a series of intimate portraits, which build into a poignant, insightful and unforgettable testimony of West Indian British experience. ***A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023*** 'Grant is a natural storyteller... Compelling and charming' BERNARDINE EVARISTO, author of Girl, Woman, Other 'Grant's most revealing work' NEW STATESMAN 'I'm black, so you don't have to be,' Colin Grant's uncle Castus used to tell him. If Colin - born in Britain to Jamaican parents - worked hard and became a doctor, his race would become invisible; he would shake off the burden his parents' generation had carried. The reality turned out to be very different. This is a memoir told through a series of intimate portraits, including of Grant's mother Ethlyn, his father Bageye, his sister Selma, and his great uncle Percy. Each character we meet is navigating their own path. Each life informs Grant's own shifting sense of his identity. Collectively, these stories build into an unforgettable testimony of black British experience.