“My first listen is a book from childhood, because it was all audiobooks then—only read by my parents, not actors. These five books have helped me build my inner world, and understand the outer world. I will never not be grateful for stories, and I'm so pleased that we're listening more again. There's something in the listening that adds another layer of magic.” —Imani Thompson, author of Honey
I believe this book made me a writer. My mum read it to me when I was little and one scene in particular—when a white character needs a plaster, and there are only brown ones for sale—blew my little mind. I realised that books can explain the world to you, particularly the things no one seems to be talking about.
After reading this book I took to my notebook, deciding to write my own version. I must have been about 10, and it was the closest I got to a finished book before Honey. I never did finish it, however, as nearing the end it dawned on me that I’d plagiarised the whole thing.
This book captured my imagination like few others. So wild and magical, it was like reading in a hurricane.
I read this after finishing school and it gave me the intellectual language for things I had been thinking, feeling, and noticing about race but couldn’t quite articulate. It was a key reason that I switched from studying English to Sociology at university.
I'm constantly being inspired as a writer and this is a recent read that I haven't stopped thinking about. Hammad weaves the personal into the political with such skill and empathy. It's a stunning novel.
Imani Thompson is a British writer with Jamaican heritage. Honey is her first novel.
