Caribbean Contemporary Classics – serie

There have been many great and enduring works of literature by Caribbean authors over the last century. The Caribbean Contemporary Classics collection celebrates these deep and vibrant stories, overflowing with life and acute observations about society.Written as a series of letters from the child Sunshine to her absent mother, Aunt Jen traces the changing attitudes of a child entering adulthood as she tries to understand the truth behind her mother's departure, and make sense of her relationship with her family. Aunt Jen migrated to England as part of the Windrush generation, and Sunshine's letters, written in the early 1970s, reveal something of the emotional as well as the physical gulf between those who left and those who remained behind. A companion novel to Letters Home, Aunt Jen is a painfully one-sided correspondence, revealing the complex inheritance we pass on to our children.Suitable for readers aged 14 and above.

There have been many great and enduring works of literature by Caribbean authors over the last century. The Caribbean Contemporary Classics collection celebrates these deep and vibrant stories, overflowing with life and acute observations about society.'Tiger thought, To my wife, I man when I sleep with she. To bap (father), I man if I drink rum. But to me, I no man yet.' Trinidad is in the turbulent throes of the Second World War, but the war feels quite far away to Tiger - young and inexperienced, he sets out to prove his manhood and independence. With his child-bride Urmilla, shy, bewildered and anxious, with two hundred dollars in cash and a milking cow, he sets out into the wilderness of adulthood. There is no map or directions for him to follow, he must learn for himself and find his own way.Suitable for readers aged 15 and above.

There have been many great and enduring works of literature by Caribbean authors over the last century. The Caribbean Contemporary Classics collection celebrates these deep and vibrant stories, overflowing with life and acute observations about society.Sunrise Orphanage is a happy place until the great sickness comes to the country, when the ten orphan children are left to fend for themselves. Normal life breaks down, and people do what they can to survive. Threatened with being taken to a labour camp, the children's only alternative is a perilous journey across the island. Sanctuary awaits them at Last Man Peak, but will they be able to reach it? Unforeseen danger waits at every turn. No one can be trusted. The arduous trek would be challenging enough even without the need to avoid capture - capture which would mean the labour camp, or possibly something much worse. The journey, with only their wits and courage to help them, will change their lives for ever.Suitable for readers aged 11 and above.

There have been many great and enduring works of literature by Caribbean authors over the last century. The Caribbean Contemporary Classics collection celebrates these deep and vibrant stories, overflowing with life and acute observations about society.Fifteen-year-old Shell tells his story directly and we see things through his eyes - his confused feelings first for Rosalie, and then for Joan, his distress about the illness and death of his father, and his admiration tempered by fear of Mr Gidharee, Rosalie's father. This iconic, universal 'coming of age' novel conveys the confusion of a teenager growing to maturity, and the difficult choices that have to be made. Shell is gradually led out of childhood and into a deeper understanding of the human condition.Suitable for readers aged 14 and above.

There have been many great and enduring works of literature by Caribbean authors over the last century. The Caribbean Contemporary Classics collection celebrates these deep and vibrant stories, overflowing with life and acute observations about society.Empire Windrush has long had an iconic status in British and Caribbean history. This book, largely told in the form of diary entries and letters home, reveals the day to day experience of the first immigrants, and the far-reaching effects on their lives and relationships. Jen has left a young daughter, Sunshine, in Jamaica, and in these letters to her daughter, she attempts to make sense of the dislocation and displacement she experiences, her response, and the effect on those close to her. A companion novel to Aunt Jen, Letters Home is a penetrating and devastating study of the immigrant experience in 1960s Britain, and its long-lasting consequences.Suitable for readers aged 16 and above.

There have been many great and enduring works of literature by Caribbean authors over the last century. The Caribbean Contemporary Classics collection celebrates these deep and vibrant stories, overflowing with life and acute observations about society.Old Story Time is a Caribbean classic, providing brilliantly entertaining theatre about race, identity, malice, and the redeeming power of love. In this enthralling drama, we progress with Len from poor scholarship boy to successful accountant. We see a similar but opposite shift in George, from wealthy, well-connected schoolboy to double-dealing crook. Len's mother Miss Aggy, the girls he first loves, and the woman he eventually marries, many destinies are entwined with Len's. Misunderstandings can be dangerous, and trust and love need some help to win through. With the help of Pa Ben, our far-seeing narrator, can things end well?Trevor Rhone was a leading dramatist in Jamaica. His sparkling and original talent has won acclaim from critics and audiences worldwide.Suitable for readers aged 14 and above.

There have been many great and enduring works of literature by Caribbean authors over the last century. The Caribbean Contemporary Classics collection celebrates these deep and vibrant stories, overflowing with life and acute observations about society.Over our way lies a world of flame trees and hot beaches rimmed with hills, of raucous laughter in the market and shouts in the street, of bare feet running down dusty lanes and across burnt savannahs, splashing beside the boats of fishermen or inching up the ringed bark of coconut trees. A long way, full of laughing, weeping, blessing, cursing, explaining, quarrelling, accusing and lamenting.We cannot see the beginnings or ends of our way, but we can tell some of the stories of what happens over our way: stories which we alone can tell, stories about our friendships, our lonelinesses, our games, our crimes, our sorrows and joys, our triumphs and dreams.Suitable for readers aged 11 and above.

There have been many great and enduring works of literature by Caribbean authors over the last century. The Caribbean Contemporary Classics collection celebrates these deep and vibrant stories, overflowing with life and acute observations about society.In the vast AtlanticThe sun's eye blazes over the edge of the oceanAnd watches the islands in a great bow curvingFrom Florida down to the South American coast.The poems and stories included in The Sun's Eye present a selection of old favourites and new discoveries, celebrating the rich, warm, vibrant and vital life in the string of islands which curve down from Florida to the South American coast. A great celebration of Caribbean culture, and testimonial to all who have felt the warmth of the Caribbean sun and the whisper of the Caribbean breeze.Suitable for readers aged 11 and above.

In 1735, five Maroon boys are ready to be initiated as warriors. They have prepared long and hard for this day, and must now pass a sequence of tests. How the boys approach this, the most important day of their lives, says much about how they will respond to the challenges ahead. When they encounter a Redcoat troop in the forest near their village, the defence of the village and surrounding Maroon communities will depend on these boys, their training, courage, and intelligence. On this occasion, their community depends on them for its survival, but their initiation as warriors also teaches them lifelong lessons about loyalty, responsibility, trustworthiness and friendship.

There have been many great and enduring works of literature by Caribbean authors over the last century. The Caribbean Contemporary Classics collection celebrates these deep and vibrant stories, overflowing with life and acute observations about society.This luminous book recounted through the eyes of the 12-year-old Francis, describes the year he spends, far away from home, in San Fernando. As his initial confusion gives way to increasing confidence and maturity, the open consciousness of the boy allows different times, events and places to co-exist.Over the course of one year, through Francis' eyes, we see the cycle of natural change and progression; the daily round of the market, showing the fruits of different seasons, the passage of dry season to rainy and back again to dry, the cane fires as the crop comes to an end, all symbolising the progression of the boy's year. And weaving in and amongst these mundane but intense experiences Francis feels his way to some understanding of adulthood.

There have been many great and enduring works of literature by Caribbean authors over the last century. The Caribbean Contemporary Classics collection celebrates these deep and vibrant stories, overflowing with life and acute observations about society.Set in Belize City in the early 1950s, Beka Lamb is the record of a few months in the life of Beka and her family. Beka and her friend Toycie Qualo are on the threshold of change from childhood to adulthood. Their personal struggles and tragedies play out against a backdrop of political upheaval and regeneration as the British colony of Belize gears up for universal suffrage, and progression towards independence. The politics of the colony, the influence of the mixing of races in society, and the dominating presence of the Catholic Church are woven into the fabric of the story to provide a compelling portrait, 'a loving evocation of Belizean life and landscape'. Beka's vibrant character guides us through a tumultuous period in her own life and that of her country.

There have been many great and enduring works of literature by Caribbean authors over the last century. The Caribbean Contemporary Classics collection celebrates these deep and vibrant stories, overflowing with life and acute observations about society.A sparkling collection of short stories set in Trinidad. Anthony takes our hand and walks us from the valley of the lush, green cocoa trees, to taste the sweet rivers flowing nearby. We pluck fruit from the sapodilla tree and feel the crisp, brown guava leaved carpet crunch under our feet. We see Mayaro and Port of the Spain through the eyes of childish innocence and grown-up ignorance. Beautiful, evocative and poignant, the stories are sprinkled with themes of yearning for home, sad realisations and a longing for a pre-modern totality.

Sprat Morrison follows the wonderful adventures of a bubbly young boy in Papine, a suburb of Kingston. Through a series of delightful episodes, we learn with Sprat, laugh with him, share in his discoveries, feel his disappointments and purr in his excitement, all the while knowing that, like Junjo, we're so happy to call him our friend.