1627 to 2014
The Holetown Festival to celebrate the Anniversary of the First Settlement of Barbados
begins on Sunday 9th and ends on Sunday the 16th of February!
Ah I am getting INDEPENDENCE today since a good friend arrived yesterday from Toronto with it! I'll tell you more about it later. In the meantime check this media release:
INDEPENDENCE
By Cecil Foster
(TORONTO – January 20, 2013) INDEPENDENCE (Harper Collins Canada; ISBN:
9781443415057; on sale January 28, 2014; $29.99 CAN) is the deeply moving
story of the coming of age of a country and a boy, at the time of Barbados’
independence from Britain in 1966.
Fourteen-year-old Christopher Lucas and Stephanie King have been neighbours
and best friends since they were born a few months apart. They have been raised
by their impoverished grandmothers after their mothers went “over ’n’ away” to
the United States and Canada to find work when the children were toddlers; no
one has heard from the mothers since. The grandmothers are growing more and
more desperate about their ability to support their charges. When the novel
opens, there is a sudden and unexplained rift between Christopher and Stephanie
following the return from Canada of a benefactor named Mr. Lashley, who
lavishes gifts on Stephanie.
Through a series of triumphs and catastrophes, Christopher and Stephanie determine their places in the world and take control of their lives. Rich with the details of Bajan culture—from food preparation to political and financial affairs, from sexuality to spirituality—Independence is a fascinating window onto a little-known world and a touching portrait of a journey to adulthood and the women who guide it.
CECIL FOSTER was born in Barbados and immigrated to Canada in 1978. He has been a reporter for The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and the Financial Post and has contributed to such magazines as Chatelaine, Maclean’s, Toronto Life, NOW and Canadian Business. He has also worked for the CBC (in radio and television), and CTV and is a regular commentator in the national media. He has published five works of non-fiction and four novels, including his highly praised debut, No Man in the House. Currently, Foster is a professor of sociology at the University of Guelph and is director of graduate studies in the department of transnational studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Independence is his first novel in almost twelve years.
INDEPENDENCE by Cecil Foster
HarperCollins Canada I ISBN: 9781443415057 I On Sale: January 28 I Price: $29.99 Canada
