My Mother's Gift
What if going home was the only way to find out where you belonged?
When Erica gets a phone call to say her mother, Ione, is ill in St Lucia, she knows she must go to her, even though their relationship has always been difficult. The island – the place of her mother’s birth – is somewhere that Erica has never called home. |
Even when the plane touches down in the tropical paradise, with its palm trees swaying in the island breeze, the sound of accents so like her mother’s own calling loud in the air, Erica doesn’t find herself wanting to stay a moment longer than she has to. But stepping into her mother’s house, she is shocked by what she finds. Her mother’s memory is fading and she is having strange, erratic episodes. Erica knows the right thing to do is to stay with her, even if it means leaving everything in England behind. Could you uproot your whole life for the person who raised you? Can a place you’ve never felt at home ever feel like where you belong? And – as you experience loss – is it ever possible to also find love and peace? Available from 22nd March 2022 Pre-order your copy from: https://bit.ly/3Knfzxe |
This Other Island - My debut novel.
Available from 21 May 2021.
|
Then before I could ask any more questions, I was off, on my way to England, lost on a ship with others similar to me… And after fourteen days that felt like months – I was there, dressed in layers of clothes, thick socks and shiny new shoes, which didn’t take the cold away. So this was my strange new home…
When Yvette receives a call to say her estranged father Joe has been attacked in a seemingly random act of violence, she rushes to his side. But when she arrives, she finds a man different to the larger-than-life father of her memories. Joe is broken, too scared to describe his attacker to the police, and seemingly haunted by memories of his past – memories he’s fought to suppress. About the boat journey that brought him and his wife Dolina to their new home in a hostile and unwelcoming Britain – as part of the Windrush Generation. About the secrets left behind in St Lucia… And about the darkest secret of all – the one that he has carried with him since stepping off the boat that cool, wet August day. As he fights for his life, he begs Yvette to find out what really happened on the last day of that crossing. Because, for forty years, Joe has believed that he killed a man. A man who had loved Dolina too. And who might hold the key to Yvette’s own story… |
What follows is a heart-stopping debut novel about family, identity, secrets, lies, and the journeys that define us. It will grip you, challenge you, and ultimately break you into a thousand pieces. |
