Growing Out, Barbara Blake Hannah
Growing Out, Barbara Blake Hannah
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Growing Out
Black Hair and Black Pride in the Swinging 60s

Author: Barbara Blake Hannah, Bernardine Evaristo

Series: Black Britain: Writing Back #9

Narrator: Bernardine Evaristo, Barbara Blake Hannah

Unabridged: 7 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 02/03/2022


Synopsis

Brought to you by Penguin.

Travelling over from Jamaica as a teenager, Barbara's journey is remarkable. She finds her footing in TV, and blossoms. Covering incredible celebrity stories, travelling around the world and rubbing shoulders with the likes of Germaine Greer and Michael Caine - her life sparkles. But with the responsibility of being the first black woman reporting on TV comes an enormous amount of pressure, and a flood of hateful letters and complaints from viewers that eventually costs her the job.

In the aftermath of this fallout, she goes through a period of self-discovery that allows her to carve out a new space for herself first in the UK and then back home in Jamaica - one that allows her to embrace and celebrate her black identity, rather than feeling suffocated in her attempts to emulate whiteness and conform to the culture around her.
Growing Out provides a dazzling, revelatory depiction of race and womanhood in the 1960s from an entirely unique perspective.

A title in the Black Britain: Writing Back series - selected by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo, this series rediscovers and celebrates pioneering books depicting black Britain that remap the nation.

'A gorgeously exuberant account. . . writing that is natural and vivacious . . . a fascinating and hugely enjoyable read.' Bernardine Evaristo, from the Introduction

© Barbara Blake Hannah 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Reviews

Goodreads review by Emma on September 08, 2025

A delight!......more

Goodreads review by Lydia on January 05, 2025

I really enjoyed this book, Barbara Blake Hannah has a really engaging style of storytelling and made the book an absolute pleasure to read. I just wish that the epilogue were longer as I would be interested to read more about the Rastafarian lifestyle she went on to have when returning to Jamaica.......more

Goodreads review by Stephen on October 20, 2024

Growing out Powerful autobiography detailing the experience of a black Jamaican woman in 60s London. Ultimately she ieàrns to love and accept herself as she embraces her black looks and culture f......more

Goodreads review by Amy on December 29, 2024

good writing odd pacing......more


Quotes

A beautiful book. Her writing is just so dynamic and alive

It is a fascinating book, both for [Barbara Blake Hannah's] vivid descriptions of her new life in Britain . . . and for the painful recollections of the racism she faced . . . Wide-eyed wonder jostles with a vitriolic anger - sometimes in the same paragraph The Telegraph