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Island Songs

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Island Songs

By: Alex Wheatle
Narrated by: Sara Powell
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About this listen

She wondered what kind of world she had brought her two daughters into, the tedious cycle of rural Jamaican life. No chance for them to set off upon adventures and see the outside world.

But sisters Jenny and Hortense Rodney, descendants of the fierce Maroon people, do get to see the outside world, and Island Songs is their story. Growing up in rural Claremont, working amid the hustle and bustle, lawn parties and houses of joy in Trenchtown, the two sisters take a chance and move to England with their husbands, that far-off land of riches, where they settle down to motherhood among the jazz cafés and bleak streets of Brixton.

A hauntingly beautifully written evocation of 20th-century Jamaica, its history and traditions, Island Songs is an epic of love, laughter and sorely tested family loyalties. Many stories are told, but many more secrets are never revealed.

©2005 Alex Wheatle (P)2021 W F Howes City Life Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Urban

Critic reviews

"Alex Wheatle writes from a place of honesty and passion with the full knowledge and understanding that change can only happen through words and actions." (Steve Mcqueen)

"Grabs your heart, not with pity but wonder that such beauty can come from such a life." (Independent)
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This book is an absolute gem, brilliantly written by Alex Wheatley it tells the story of two Jamaican sisters Hortense and Jenny, and their immediate family. I must confess I deliberately listened to it on Audible because its narrated by the stunningly talented Sara Powell, an actress I feel I grew up with. She nails every accent from deepest countryside patois, to upper class white colonial Queens English, to natty Brixton Irish with all their tangs. Being of Jamaican heritage raised in Brixton I deeply identified with so much in the book, gave me such an insight into a childhood my mother has never really talked about. But what I really loved what Sara Powell’s mastering of the accents which really brought Wheatley’s words to life, I haven’t laughed so much listening to a book in years! Highly recommended. Skin

Brilliant book read beautifully by Sara Powell

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Another great story from Alex Wheatle. Thoroughly researched and insightful. The characters family history was rich and bursting with colourful and brought to life stories of Caribbean settlers pre-Windrush. Reminded me of a Caribbean cross between Fortunate Pilgrim and Lonely Londoners. Perfect prequel to East of Acre Lane

Masterful prequel to East of Acre Lane

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