TBB’s WINDRUSH LIT LIST June 26
Explore our Windrush reading list, featuring 37 books that celebrate the stories, experiences and lasting legacy of the Windrush Generation … From powerful memoirs and oral histories to novels inspired by real-life journeys, this collection shines a light on the people who travelled from the Caribbean to Britain and helped shape the country we know […]
Black News 
Explore our Windrush reading list, featuring 37 books that celebrate the stories, experiences and lasting legacy of the Windrush Generation …
From powerful memoirs and oral histories to novels inspired by real-life journeys, this collection shines a light on the people who travelled from the Caribbean to Britain and helped shape the country we know today. Among our highlights are Colin Grant’s Homecoming, a moving collection of first-hand accounts from across the UK, Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff’s Mother Country, which explores the experiences of Windrush descendants, and Benjamin Zephaniah’s Windrush Child, a poignant story of migration told through a young boy’s eyes.
Whether you’re looking to learn more about this important chapter in British history or discover stories of resilience, community and belonging, there’s something here for every reader.
Homecoming: Voices Of The Windrush Generation by Colin Grant
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.
“Colin Grant has interviewed and collected nearly 200 voices from [the Windrush] era, from all walks of life, including policemen and fascists. It’s quite a feat.” – Bernardine Evaristo
“The structure of Homecoming gives its subjects space to speak for themselves, with each vignette providing a glimpse into little known history … Grant’s collection of voice … exposes effectively the cruel logic of Britains legacy of domination.” – Reni Eddo-Lodge
Publish Date: 1st October 2020
Twenty-Eight Pounds Ten Shillings: A Windrush Story by Tony Fairweather
It is 1948, and post-war Britain is on her knees. The call has gone out to the British Empire for volunteers to help rebuild the ‘Mother Country,’ and young men and women from across the Caribbean have been quick to respond, paying the considerable sum of £28.10 shillings to board HMT Empire Windrush – the ‘ship of dreams’ that will take them to their new lives.
Meet Mavis, a 22-year-old Trinidadian nurse who just wants to see the world. Chef, the best cook on the island, desperate to get to London and his wounded soldier son. Norma, who wants to teach the British how to teach, and her funny best friend Luquser, who is sure that every man wants her, and that English food is very… English. Their epic journey took two weeks, but for some, it was a lifetime. Friendships were made and broken. There were love affairs and fights; dancing and dominoes; gambling and racism. Many of the young people on board that ship had never left their parents or their parishes, let alone their islands. Their lives would never be the same again.
“Twenty-Eight Pounds Ten Shillings is a treat to read…put it on your 2022 bucket list.” – Yvonne Wilks- O’Grady, RJR Gleaner Media Group
“Twenty Eight Pounds Ten Shillings is such an important part of our collective history. The characters take you on a journey filled with joy, laughter, suspense and page-turning drama. Enjoy the voyage!” – Dr. Paulette Randall MBE, Theatre and Television director
Publish Date: May 26th 2022
Windrush: 75 years Of Modern Britain by Mike Phillips and Trevor Phillips
The oral history of Britain’s first West Indian immigrants and their descendants
In 1948 the former troop ship Windrush made the 30-day journey across the Atlantic from Jamaica. The arrival of its 500 passengers, the first generation of Caribbean migrants in the UK, was the initial step in the formation of a new identity: the black Briton.
Fifty years later, Mike and Trevor Phillips spoke to those on the Windrush itself, as well as those who followed, to tell the story of Britain in the second half of the twentieth century through the eyes of the outsiders who became insiders.
Now updated to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the ship’s voyage and including reflections on its political and cultural legacy in 2023, Windrush is an essential record of this transformative era in British social history.
Publish Date: 22nd June 2023
Mother Country: Real Stories Of The Windrush Children by Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff
A leading new exploration of the Windrush generation featuring David Lammy, Lenny Henry, Corinne Bailey Rae, Sharmaine Lovegrove, Hannah Lowe, Jamz Supernova, Natasha Gordon and Rikki Beadle-Blair.
For the pioneers of the Windrush generation, Britain was ‘the Mother Country’. They made the long journey across the sea, expecting to find a place where they would be be welcomed with open arms; a land in which you were free to build a new life, eight thousand miles away from home.
This remarkable book explores the reality of their experiences, and those of their children and grandchildren, through 22 unique real-life stories spanning more than 70 years.
“The story of Windrush, is, like any other, a story of humanity. Of life, love, struggle, hope, misery, success and failure. It’s one that is too often neglected in our media … but this volume acts as a remedy to that failure of story-telling, which I ask you to both savour and share.” – David Lammy MP
Publish Date: October 18th 2018
Coming To England by Floella Benjamin
A story about the triumph of hope, love, and determination,Coming to England is the inspiring true story of Baroness Floella Benjamin: from Trinidad, to London as part of the Windrush generation, to the House of Lords.
Follow ten-year-old Floella as she and her family set sail from the Caribbean to a new life in London. Alone on a huge ship for two weeks, then tumbled into a cold and unfriendly London, coming to England wasn’t at all what Floella had expected . . . What will her new school be like? Will she meet the Queen?
Publish Date: 8th October 2020
The Windrush Betrayal: Exposing The Hostile Environment by Amelia Gentleman
How do you pack for a one-way journey back to a country you left when you were eleven and have not visited for fifty years?
Amelia Gentleman’s exposé of the Windrush scandal – where thousands of British citizens were wrongly classified as illegal immigrants with life-shattering consequences – shocked the nation and led to the resignation of Amber Rudd as Home Secretary. Here, Gentleman tells the full story for the first time.
“A timely reminder of what truly great journalists can achieve.” – David Olusoga
“[Gentleman’s] reporting proves why an independent press is so vital.” – Rennie Eddo-Lodge
“A book that keeps you informed and makes you angry.” – Gary Younge
“Essential . . . a damning indictment.” Sir Lenny Henry
Publish Date: 19th September 2019
Black And British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga
In this vital re-examination of a shared history, historian and broadcaster David Olusoga tells the rich and revealing story of the long relationship between the British Isles and the people of Africa and the Caribbean.
Drawing on new genealogical research, original records, and expert testimony, Black and British reaches back to Roman Britain, the medieval imagination, Elizabethan ‘blackamoors’ and the global slave-trading empire. It shows that the great industrial boom of the nineteenth century was built on American slavery, and that black Britons fought at Trafalgar and in the trenches of both World Wars. Black British history is woven into the cultural and economic histories of the nation. It is not a singular history, but one that belongs to us all.
“[A] comprehensive and important history of black Britain . . . Written with a wonderful clarity of style and with great force and passion.” – Kwasi Kwarteng, Sunday Times
Publish Date: 24th August 2017
War To Windrush: Black Women In Britain 1939 To 1948 by Stephen Bourne
Commemorating the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush, Stephen Bourne’s War to Windrush explores the lives of Britain’s immigrant community through the experiences of Black British women during the period spanning from the beginning of World War II to the arrival of the Empire Windrush in 1948.
In those short years, Black British women performed integral roles in keeping the country functioning and set the stage for the arrival of other black Britons on the MV Empire Windrush. The book shows first-hand what life was like in Britain for black women through photography and evocative prose.
Publish Date: 22nd June 2018
Windrush: The Irresistible Rise Of Multi-Racial Britain by Trevor and Mike Phillips
Broadcaster Trevor Phillips and his novelist brother Mike retell the very human story of Britain’s first West Indian immigrants and their descendants from the first wave of immigration in 1948 to the present day.
Windrush opens with the memories and impressions of the survivors of the voyage of HMT Empire Windrush, the troop ship which brought the first West Indian immigrants to Great Britain in 1948. Fifty years on, the migrants tell an epic tale of British life in the twentieth century, through the witness of their descendants, friends, neighbours and colleagues and the testimonies of politicians who made the key decisions alongside those who were then opposed to the presence of the black settlers.
Windrush moves through the crucial events of British social history in the second half of the twentieth century: the great riots of the late fifties and early sixties, the hysteria of Powellism, the remodelling of England’s inner cities and the current passionate debates about the meaning of Englishness. Concluding with a portrait of multi-racial Britain in the present day, Windrush is a celebration of the black British and of the new heritage Britain will carry forward into the twenty-first century.
Publish Date: 16th October 2009
An Ocean Apart by Sarah Lee
It’s 1954 and, in Barbados, Ruby Haynes spots an advertisement for young women to train as nurses for the new National Health Service in Great Britain. Her sister, Connie, takes some persuading, but soon the sisters are on their way to a new country – and a whole new world of experiences.
As they start their training in Hertfordshire, they discover England isn’t quite the promised land; for every door that’s opened to them, the sisters find many slammed in their faces. And though the girls find friendships with their fellow nurses, Connie struggles with being so far from home, and keeping secret the daughter she has left behind in search of a better life for the both of them . . .
“A glorious triumph of a book full of characters that feel like real friends, so atmospheric, compelling and nostalgic, I adored it.” – Alex Brown
“A love letter to the women who left behind everything to help heal our country and establish the NHS. I could not have loved this more and thought about it long after I turned the last page.” – Kate Thompson
Publish Date: 18th August 2022
In Memory Of Us: A Profound Evocation of Memory and Post-Windrush Life in Britain by Jacqueline Roy
What does it mean to remember?
Joined at birth, then pulled apart, Selina and Zora’s relationship is marked by a pattern of closeness and separation. Growing up in 50s’ and 60s’ London under the shadow of Enoch Powell, they are instinctively dependent on each other, and yet Zora yearns for her own identity. But in the eyes of the people around them, the twins are interchangeable.
They come as a pair.
They are Selzora.
Now in her seventies and living with the early stages of dementia, Selina is tracing shards of memory. She is intent on untangling the traumatic events of the past that changed the twins’ lives. Perhaps Lydia, who has reintroduced herself to Selina with sharp, cool charisma, will help her find answers. But even as Selina struggles to make sense of her memories, it’s all too clear that Lydia is hiding something.
In Memory of Us is a profound evocation of memory, and the strategies employed for illusion and survival in the wake of racism. It offers an often-overlooked insight into life as a Black Briton after the Windrush generation.
“A heartstring-tugging exploration of memory, grief and race in Britain. Roy’s prose drips with poignancy and elegance; her characters come to life on the page and you have no choice but to surrender your heart to their journey.” Elvin James Mensah, author of Small Joys
Publish Date: 18th January 2024
The Story Of The Windrush by K.N. Chimbiri
A book to celebrate the inspiring legacy of the Windrush pioneers.
In June 1948, hundreds of Caribbean men, women and children arrived in London on a ship called the HMT Empire Windrush. Although there were already Black people living in Britain at the time, this event marks the beginning of modern Black Britain.
Throughout the book, contemporary photographs, sepia-toned illustrations, and maps enrich the text, while a detailed timeline and glossary support understanding. Historical context is interwoven with personal stories of individuals who made the journey, such as Sam King, who served in the RAF, worked for the postal service, and later became the first Black Mayor of Southwark. The book also carefully emphasises that the UK invited people from the Caribbean to help rebuild the country after the Second World War.
Publish Date: 15th October 2020
Voices of the Windrush Generation: The real story told by the people themselves by David Matthews
Voices of the Windrush Generation is a powerful collection of stories from the men, women and children of the Windrush generation – West Indians who emigrated to Britain between 1948 and 1971 in response to labour shortages, and in search of a better life.
Edited by journalist and bestselling author David Matthews, this book paints a vivid portrait of what it meant for those who left the Caribbean for Britain during the early days of mass migration.
Through his own, and many other stories, Matthews explores: why and how so many people came to Britain after World War II, their hopes and dreams, the communities they formed and the difficulties they faced being separated from family and friends while integrating into an often hostile society. We hear how lives were transformed, and what became of the generations that followed, taking the reader right up to the present day, and the impact of the current Windrush deportation scandal upon everyday people.
“Evocative, authentic and brilliantly told – a wonderful read.” – David Lammy
Foreword by West Indies Cricketer Sir Clive Lloyd
Publish Date: 18th October 2018
Small by Eden McKenzie-Goddard
In 1961, nineteen-year-old Lucinda Brown travels to England in search of her son’s father, Clarence Braithwaite, who left Barbados to join the British army. But aboard the ship to Southampton she meets a man named Raldo who offers her a glimpse of a new life, a freer life. Bound by the memory of her son waiting at home, she chooses Clarence – realizing too late that war has made a stranger out of him.
Nearly fifty years later, Lucinda receives a letter from the Home Office that threatens to tear her world apart. Her children rally together to prove her legal arrival, and to do so they must track down an elusive man from her past, a man she wanted to love but instead lost, a man who now holds the key to her family’s future. Raldo . . .
Publish Date: 18th October 2018
Windrush Child by Benjamin Zephaniah
Leonard is shocked when he arrives with his mother in the port of Southampton. His father is a stranger to him, it’s cold and even the Jamaican food doesn’t taste the same as it did back home in Maroon Town. But his parents have brought him here to try to make a better life, so Leonard does his best not to complain, to make new friends, to do well at school – even when people hurt him with their words and with their fists. How can a boy so far from home learn to enjoy his new life when so many things count against him?
“Zephaniah pulls no punches in his depictions of the racism that Leonard suffers both at school and in the streets in a powerful, moving account of family and fitting in” – iNews
“An invaluable story for any young readers who enjoy adventure and want to learn more about the Windrush generation’s experience. Essential reading.” – Alex Wheatle
Publish Date: 5th November 2020
Finding Home: A Windrush Memoir by the late Alford Gardner
On 24 May 1948, the Empire Windrush sailed from Kingston, Jamaica, to harbour at Tilbury Docks. It carried 1,027 passengers and some stowaways, and more than two thirds of them were West Indies nationals. On 22 June 1948 they disembarked onto the docks, Alford Dalrymple Gardner was among them. Alford’s story traverses both the uplifting highs and intolerant lows that West Indian migrants of his generation encountered upon travelling to Britain to forge out a life. From joining the British military during World War II to returning to Jamaica once it was won-only to come back to the UK when the government decided it needed him again-Alford witnessed milestone events of the 20th century that shaped the country he still lives in today. In the context of a supposedly ‘post-Imperial’ Britain where the lives of West Indian migrants hang precariously on the whims of the Home Office, Alford’s heartening testimony is a celebration of those who endured hardships so that generations to come could call this place home.
“Alford Gardner’s memoir is a joy to read, capturing the adventure and challenges of this Windrush Pioneer who represents an important link between the first and 4th generation of Windrush descendants. The book should be in the hands of all children as part of the drive for Windrush history and legacy should embedded in the national curriculum“
– Professor Patrick Vernon OBE
“Since 1948 only a handful of autobiographies have been published by passengers who came to Britain on the Empire Windrush and so Alford Dalrymple Gardner’s Finding Home – A Windrush Story is a fantastic resource. I thoroughly enjoyed his stories of serving in the RAF in wartime, his post-war journey to Britain on the Windrush and his long and eventful life in this country. Finding Home is a superb chronicle of Mr Gardner’s journey through life and the ups and downs he has faced. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in reading about the Windrush from someone who was there, and has provided us with first-hand experience.“ – Stephen Bourne, author of War to Windrush and Evelyn Dove: Britain’s Black Cabaret Queen
Publication Date: 3rd October 2024
Empire Windrush: Reflections on 75 Years & More of the Black British Experience by Onyekachi Wambu
In June 1948 the SS Empire Windrush docked in Tilbury, carrying with it the hopes and dreams of hundreds of young men and women from the Caribbean. It was both a point of departure and a historic transformation, a moment which influenced generations of writers and artists and produced much poetry, prose, fiction, journalism and influential essays.
In this groundbreaking collection, journalist and writer Onyekachi Wambu collates some of the best and most significant writing from the 75 years following the arrival of Empire Windrush. Featuring a preface by Margaret Busby, and new writing from Bernardine Evaristo, Mike Philips and Dan Hicks, Empire Windrush conjures a unique journey through the British past, present and future, via the prism of the Black imagination.
Publishe Date: 22nd June 2023
The Mercy Step by Marcia Hutchinson
Bradford, December 1962.
A precocious Mercy makes her reluctant entrance into the world, torn from the warm embrace of her mother’s womb, to a chaotic household that seems to have no place for her. Her siblings do not understand her, her mother’s attention is given to the Church, and the entire family lives at the whims of her father’s quick temper.
Left to herself, Mercy finds solace in books, her imagination, and the quiet comfort of her faithful toy, Dolly. But escapism has its limits, and as the grip of family, faith and fear threatens to close in, Mercy learns she must act if she wants a different future; one where she is seen, heard, and her family set free.
“From the very first page I knew The Mercy Step by Marcia Hutchinson was exceptional.” – Salma El-Wardany
“A moving, funny and perfectly-observed slice of Black British life […] has all the hallmarks of a modern classic” – Paterson Joseph
“A brilliant debut. Both deeply touching and haunting, with a compelling child protagonist that’s impossible to look away from” – Irenosen Okojie
Publish Date: 30th April 2026
Land Of Hope And Glory by Maurice Hope
Land of Hope and Glory is the Windrush-generation story of Maurice Hope, a Caribbean immigrant whose fascinating journey took him from abject poverty to boxing world champion and receiving an MBE from the Queen.
The former WBC light-middleweight titlist was born in rural Antigua in 1951. Surprisingly, he was an extremely sensitive child who cried for the flimsiest reasons. When he arrived in east London, aged nine, his elder brother Lex was waiting to introduce him to the noble art at the famous Repton Boxing Club. Reluctant but too scared to defy Lex, Maurice agreed. It led to a glittering career, first as an Olympian then as a world champion pro. Maurice then coached the Antigua boxing team for years. Invites to Downing Street to meet the Prime Minister followed, before a trip to Buckingham Palace to receive his MBE for services to the sport.
Hope’s story is punctuated by spectacular highs and crushing lows, but amid it all his warmth, humour and resilience shine through.
Publish Date: 13th May 2024
Small Island by Andrea Levy
It is 1948, and England is recovering from a war. But at 21 Nevern Street, London, the conflict has only just begun.
Queenie Bligh’s neighbours don’t approve when she agrees to take in Jamaican lodgers, but with her husband, Bernard, not back from the war, she has little choice in the matter.
Gilbert Joseph was one of the many Jamaican men who joined the RAF to fight Hitler. But when he returns to England as a civilian he doesn’t receive the welcome he was expecting, and it’s desperation that drives him to knock at Queenie’s door. Gilbert’s wife Hortense, who for years has longer for a better life in England, soon joins him. But London is far from the golden city of her dreams, and even Gilbert is not the man she thought he was.
Small Island explores a point in England’s past when the country began to change. In this delicately wrought and profoundly moving novel, Andrea Levy handles the weighty themes of empire, prejudice, war and love, with a superb lightness of touch and generosity of spirit.
“It is a work of great imaginative power which ranks alongside Sam Selvon’s THE LONELY LONDONERS, George Lamming’s THE EMIGRANTS and Caryl Phillips’ THE FINAL PASSAGE in dealing with the experience of migration” – Linton Kwesi Johnson
Publish Date: 17th September 2009
Windward Family: An Atlas of Love, Loss and Belonging by Alexis Keir
Twenty years after living there as a child, Alexis Keir returns to the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent. He is keen to uncover lost memories and rediscover old connections. But he also carries with him the childhood scars of being separated from his parents and put into uncaring hands.
Inspired by the embrace of his relatives in the Caribbean, Alexis begins to unravel the stories of others who left Saint Vincent, searching through diary pages and newspaper articles, shipping and hospital records and faded photographs. He uncovers tales of exploitation, endeavour and bravery of those who had to find a home far away from where they were born.
A child born with vitiligo, torn from his mother’s arms to be exhibited as a showground attraction in England; a woman who, in the century before the Windrush generation, became one of the earliest Black nurses to be recorded as working in a London hospital; a young boy who became a footman in a Yorkshire stately home. And Alexis’s mother, a student nurse who arrives in 1960s London, ready to start a new life in a cold, grey country – and the man from her island whom she falls in love with.
From the Caribbean to England, North America and New Zealand, from windswept islands to the wet streets of London, and spanning generations of travellers from the 19th century to the present, Windward Family takes you inside the beating heart of a Black British family, separated by thousands of miles but united by love, loss and belonging.
“‘Being Black British is more than an identity, it is a journey into uncharted waters of personal history. Alexis Keir’s deeply moving account will ring true for all of those navigating their own stories.” – David Lammy
“Infused with hope… pertinent and timely… with beautiful touches of memories that will resonate with any child born of Caribbean parents in the UK… honest, poetic and deeply researched excellence.” – Paterson Joseph
Publication date: 2nd February 2023
Sir Trevor McDonald On Cricket by Trevor McDonald
Sir Trevor McDonald is one of Britain’s most celebrated broadcasters and his devotion for cricket is almost as well-known as his legendary professional achievements.
In this inspirational memoir, On Cricket, Sir Trevor explores his childhood in the Caribbean and celebrates his life-long love of the sport that followed him no matter where in the world his illustrious journalistic career would take him.
Sir Trevor offers a wide-ranging commentary on cricket as a common language between England, the West Indies and beyond – a sense of belonging that knows no borders – and celebrates cricket as an engine of national identity and an essential feature of daily life and community.
An exceptional storyteller and commentator, On Cricket is a love letter to the sport and a study of Sir Trevor’s oldest and most consistent passion: watching, debating and playing the gentleman’s game.
Publication Date: Thursday 17th October 2024
May Day by Jackie Kay
The long-awaited collection from one of Britain’s finest poets, and a chronicle of activism in the UK over six decades.
Kay brings to life a cast of influential figures, delving beneath the surfaces of received narratives: the Jamaican model Fanny Eaton, for example, muse of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in England; Paul Robeson, Angela Davis and the poet Audre Lorde; and a ‘what-if’ poem concerning Rabbie Burns and a road-not-taken towards the West Indian slave trade. Woven through the collection is a suite of lyric poems concerning the recent losses of Kay’s parents: poems of grief and profound change that are infused with the light of love and celebration.
Publish Date: Thursday 25th April 2024
Rebel With A Cause: Roots, Records and Revolutions by Darcus Beese
The remarkable story of Darcus Beese: legendary music-industry executive and A&R who was raised in a musically fertile and politically febrile times.
His parents – Darcus Howe and Barbara Beese – were prominent activists in west London and members of the Mangrove Nine during a time when racism was rife. This book tells his story and how his unique upbringing along with a love of music and culture helped him progress from “tea-boy” to become “one of the great A&R people of his or any generation*” and how those beliefs instilled in him by his parents have, and continue to be, prominent in his personal and professional life.
Publish Date: Thursday 15th August
A Woman Like Me: A Memoir by Diane Abbott
In this honest and moving memoir, Diane takes the reader through her incredible journey. She paints a vivid picture of growing up in 1960s North London with her working-class Jamaican parents, before entering the hallowed halls of Cambridge University to study history. Ever since the day she first walked through the House of Commons as the only state-educated Black woman MP, she has been a fearless and vocal champion for the causes that have made Britain what it is today. From increasing access to education for Black children and speaking out against the Iraq war to advocating tirelessly for refugees and immigrants, Diane has long been at the forefront of cultural change in Britain.
Written with her trademark frankness and humour, A Woman Like Me is a candid account that celebrates how one woman succeeded against massive odds to build an extraordinary life.
Publication Date: Thursday 19th September 2024
From Coloured to Black…: A very British story told by a Windrush Generation Child by Owen Washington Staples
This is a biography supported by photographs by Owen Washington Staples who is part of the Windrush Generation having arrived in the UK from Kingston Jamaica with his mother in 1956 when he was 9. He attended school in London and made every effort to assimilate in British society in spite of a hostile environment. After being sent back to Jamaica by his father before his 15th birthday he returned 6 months later and the book describes his efforts to establish himself in some form of career with no qualifications’, his brushes with the law, juvenile detention and prison. On leaving prison he managed to find his niche in the music world with a high profile job in the record industry and then as a disc jockey. At this time his career as one of the first black DJs in the vibrant nightclub London scene during the 1970/80s was at its zenith. That career was brought to an abrupt halt by what he maintained and still maintains was a miscarriage of justice sending him back to prison, which has had a profound impact on the course of the rest of his life. The book sets out a compelling argument in terms of the miscarriage of justice and demonstrates the toxic relationship coloured people, males had with police after the arrival of the first wave of immigrants to London from the British colonies of the West indies.
Having always had to reinvent himself he manages to a degree to overcome the devastating consequences of imprisonment with the loss of employment, homelessness and emotional distress and developed another career in the television industry. Throughout these account of his life he documents the discrimination and racial abuse many immigrants from the Caribbean experienced and sets it in the social and political context of that time. All through is a recurring theme of a love of music, women, injustice and a continuous fight for justice spanning 50 or more years. Three recurring themes connect the disparate elements of his life, a love of music, women and a deep hatred of injustice.
Publication Date: 7th June 2025
The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon
At Waterloo Station, hopeful new arrivals from the West Indies step off the boat train, ready to start afresh in 1950s London. There, homesick Moses Aloetta, who has already lived in the city for years, meets Henry ‘Sir Galahad’ Oliver and shows him the ropes. In this strange, cold and foggy city where the natives can be less than friendly at the sight of a black face, has Galahad met his Waterloo? But the irrepressible newcomer cannot be cast down. He and all the other lonely new Londoners – from shiftless Cap to Tolroy, whose family has descended on him from Jamaica – must try to create a new life for themselves. As pessimistic ‘old veteran’ Moses watches their attempts, they gradually learn to survive and come to love the heady excitements of London.
Publish Date: 1956
Familiar Stranger: A Life Between Two Islands by Stuart Hall with Bill Schwarz
Growing up in a middle-class family in 1930s Kingston, Jamaica, still then a British colony, the young Stuart Hall found himself uncomfortable in his own home. He lived among Kingston’s stiflingly respectable brown middle class, who, in their habits and ambitions, measured themselves against the white elite. As colonial rule was challenged, things began to change in Kingston and across the world. In 1951 a Rhodes scholarship took Hall across the Atlantic to Oxford University, where he met young Jamaicans from all walks of life, as well as writers and thinkers from across the Caribbean, including V. S. Naipaul and George Lamming. While at Oxford he met Raymond Williams, Charles Taylor, and other leading intellectuals, with whom he helped found the intellectual and political movement known as the New Left. With the emotional aftershock of colonialism still pulsing through him, Hall faced a new struggle: that of building a home, a life, and an identity in a postwar England so rife with racism that it could barely recognize his humanity.
Publish Date: October 2nd 2017
Windrush Songs by James Berry
Growing up in a middle-class family in 1930s Kingston, Jamaica, still then a British colony, the young Stuart Hall found himself uncomfortable in his own home. He lived among Kingston’s stiflingly respectable brown middle class, who, in their habits and ambitions, measured themselves against the white elite. As colonial rule was challenged, things began to change in Kingston and across the world. In 1951 a Rhodes scholarship took Hall across the Atlantic to Oxford University, where he met young Jamaicans from all walks of life, as well as writers and thinkers from across the Caribbean, including V. S. Naipaul and George Lamming. While at Oxford he met Raymond Williams, Charles Taylor, and other leading intellectuals, with whom he helped found the intellectual and political movement known as the New Left. With the emotional aftershock of colonialism still pulsing through him, Hall faced a new that of building a home, a life, and an identity in a postwar England so rife with racism that it could barely recognize his humanity.
With great insight, compassion, and wit, Hall tells the story of his early life, taking readers on a journey through the sights, smells, and streets of 1930s Kingston while reflecting on the thorny politics of 1950s and 1960s Britain. Full of passion and wisdom, Familiar Stranger is the intellectual memoir of one of our greatest minds.
Publish Date: June 28th 2007
The Emigrants by George Lamming
Follows the journey of Caribbean migrants leaving Barbados for England in search of better opportunities. A sequel to In the Castle of My Skin, it continues the story of Lamming’s protagonist as he navigates migration and the challenges of resettlement. The novel experiments with form to represent the historical experience of Caribbean immigration to Britain, focusing on both the voyage itself and the difficulties of settling in a new country. Through its characters, it explores themes of alienation, displacement, and the lasting impact of colonialism.
Publish Date: January 1994
The Final Passage by Caryl Phillips
set in 1958 and follows 19-year-old Leila, who lives on a Caribbean island caring for her ill mother while grappling with uncertainty about her identity and future. Raised without knowing her father, she grows up shaped by her mother’s mistrust of white people and a sense of disconnection. Leila’s life is further complicated by her relationship with Michael, an immature and unreliable young man whose priorities are drinking and casual relationships rather than responsibility or stability. Despite an earlier attachment to Arthur, Leila chooses Michael, and the couple eventually marry and have a son, Calvin.
As her mother leaves for England to seek medical treatment, Leila becomes increasingly determined to follow her, believing England offers better opportunities. Along with Michael and Calvin, she undertakes the journey during the Windrush era, arriving with limited knowledge of what awaits them. In England, however, they are confronted with racism, poverty, and overcrowded housing. Leila’s hopes of family unity quickly deteriorate as Michael becomes increasingly absent, unfaithful, and unreliable. After her mother’s death and growing financial and emotional strain, Leila is left isolated, forced into work and facing another pregnancy. By the end of the novel, she recognises that Michael will not be part of her future and begins to confront the harsh realities of migration, disillusionment, and survival in postwar Britain.
Publish Date: 1985
Surge by Jay Bernard
Jay Bernard’s extraordinary debut is a fearless exploration of the New Cross Fire of 1981, a house fire at a birthday party in which thirteen young black people were killed.
Dubbed the ‘New Cross Massacre’, the fire was initially believed to be a racist attack, and the indifference with which the tragedy was met by the state triggered a new era of race relations in Britain.
Tracing a line from New Cross to the ‘towers of blood’ of the Grenfell fire, this urgent collection speaks with, in and of the voices of the past, brought back by the incantation of dancehall rhythms and the music of Jamaican patois, to form a living presence in the absence of justice.
A ground-breaking work of excavation, memory and activism – both political and personal, witness and documentary – Surge shines a much-needed light on an unacknowledged chapter in British history, one that powerfully resonates in our present moment.
Publish Date: 20th June 2019
This Lovely City by Louise Hare
London, 1950. With the war over and London still rebuilding, jazz musician Lawrie Matthews has answered England’s call for labour. Arriving from Jamaica aboard the Empire Windrush, he’s rented a tiny room in south London and fallen in love with the girl next door.
Playing in Soho’s jazz clubs by night and pacing the streets as a postman by day, Lawrie has poured his heart into his new home ― and it’s alive with possibility. Until one morning, while crossing a misty common, he makes a terrible discovery.
As the local community rallies, fingers of blame point at those who were recently welcomed with open arms. And before long, London’s newest arrivals become the prime suspects in a tragedy that threatens to tear the city apart. Immersive, poignant, and utterly compelling, Louise Hare’s debut examines the complexities of love and belonging, and teaches us that even in the face of anger and fear, there is always hope.
Publish Date: 12th March 2020
Black Teacher by Beryl Gilroy
Working in an office amidst the East End’s bombsites. Serving as a lady’s maid to an Empire-loving aristocrat. Being repeatedly denied jobs due to the colour bar. Marrying an English man and raising two mixed-race children in suburbia. Becoming one of the first black headteachers in Britain. Beryl Gilroy’s new life wasn’t what she had expected.
In 1952, she moved from Guyana to London to pursue her dream of teaching, only to experience Britain’s racist post-war society. After finally securing a teaching post, she faced fear and curiosity from her pupils, bigoted abuse from parents, and semi-segregation among staff.
But over the course of her trailblazing career, Gilroy only grew braver, learning the value of education in combating prejudice and rising to become a pioneering headmistress. This title tells Gilroy’s story in her own words.
Denied teaching jobs due to the colour bar. Working in an office amidst the East End’s bombsites. Serving as a lady’s maid to an Empire-loving aristocrat. Raising two children in suburbia. Becoming one of the first black headteachers in Britain.
In 1952, Beryl Gilroy moved from British Guiana to London. Her new life wasn’t what she expected – but her belief in education resulted in a revolutionary career. Black Teacher, her memoir, is a rediscovered classic: not only a rare insight into the Windrush generation, but a testament to how her dignity, ambition and spirit transcended her era.
“A must-read. Her life makes you laugh. Her life makes you cry. Get to know her.” – Benjamin Zephaniah
“A superb but shocking memoir … Imaginative, resilient and inspiring.” – Jacqueline Wilson
“Gilroy blazed a path that empowered generations of Black British educators” – Steve McQueen
“A landmark. Warm and wise … Life lessons we can all learn from.” – Jeffrey Boakye
“A pioneer in many fields and wonderful example for all of us … Essential reading.” – Alex Wheatle
With a foreward by Bernardine Evaristo
Publish Date: 1st July 2021
Granny Came Here on the Empire Windrush by Patrice Lawrence
One day, Ava is asked to dress as an inspirational figure for assembly at school, but who should she choose? Granny suggests famous familiar figures such as Winifred Atwell, Mary Seacole and Rosa Parks, and tells Ava all about their fascinating histories, but Ava’s classmates have got there first – and she must choose someone else. But who?
And then Ava finds a mysterious old suitcase – Granny’s ‘grip’ – and Granny begins to share her own history, and how she came to England on the Empire Windrush many years ago. She tells her story through the precious items that accompanied her on the original voyage, each one evoking a memory of home, and as Ava listens to how Granny built a life for herself in England, determined to stay against the odds and despite overwhelming homesickness, she realises that there is a hero very close to home that she wants to celebrate – her very own brave and beloved granny.
“This book is a heart-warming intergenerational account of the Windrush experience, told with love and attention to detail by Patrice Lawrence and stunningly brought to life with Camilla Sucre’s beautiful artwork. An absolute must-have for any collection.” – Dapo Adeola
Publish Date: 5th May 2022
Windrush Child by John Agard
“you’re stepping into history
bringing your Caribbean eye
to another horizon”
With one last hug, Windrush chid waves goodbye to his Caribbean home and sets sail across the ocean to Britain. In this powerful picture book, full of hope and promise, celebrated poet John Agard and illustrator Sophie Bass movingly evoke the journey made by children and their families as part of the Windrush Generation.
“A gorgeous bedtime read that will reward repeat readings, deceptively simple, emotionally deep.” – Joseph Coelho
Publish Date: 10 March 2022
Keep On Moving: The Windrush Legacy by Tony Sewell
In 1948 the ship SS Empire Windrush arrived in Britain, bringing the first of the biggest wave of immigration from the Caribbean. Sewell looks at what has happened to the three generations of Black life in Britain, showing the search for social justice, creative expression and new ethnicities.
Publish Date: 25 June 1998
