Sequins for a Ragged Hem, Amryl Johnson
Sequins for a Ragged Hem, Amryl Johnson
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Sequins for a Ragged Hem

Author: Amryl Johnson, Bernardine Evaristo

Series: Black Britain: Writing Back #8

Narrator: Bernardine Evaristo, Martina Laird

Unabridged: 9 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 02/03/2022


Synopsis

Brought to you by Penguin.

A beautifully atmospheric memoir and travelogue from poet Amryl Johnson depicting her journey from the UK to Trinidad in the 1980s

'Memories demanded that I complete this book. If what I experienced was, in fact, a haunting, I believe I have now laid these ghosts to rest in a style which I hope will satisfy even the most determined ones.'

Amryl Johnson came to England from Trinidad when she was eleven. As an adult in 1983, ready for a homecoming, she embarks on a journey through the Caribbean searching for home, searching for herself.

Landing in Trinidad as carnival begins, she instantly surrenders to the collective, pulsating rhythm of the crowd, euphoric in her total freedom. This elation is shattered when she finds the house where she was born has been destroyed. She cannot escape - nor wants to - from the inheritance of colonialism.

Her bittersweet welcome sets the tone for her intoxicating exploration of these distinct islands. In evocative, lyrical prose Sequins for a Ragged Hem is an astonishingly unique memoir, interrogating the way our past and present selves live alongside one another.

Selected by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo, this series rediscovers and celebrates pioneering books from Black Britain and the diaspora, which remap the nation and reframe our history.

© Amryl Johnson 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Reviews

Goodreads review by Stephen on May 30, 2022

Found this book interesting as the poet does a tour of the Caribbean islands from her home Island of Trinidad but it felt like it didn't have that sparkle though.......more

Goodreads review by Zanna on April 19, 2016

3.5 stars Having read the book of poetry inspired by the journey Amryl Johnson details in this memoir, I already had some familiarity with her relationship to the themes. I found it interesting that she addresses carnival more thoroughly in her poems; it is easier to sing about carnival than to descr......more

Goodreads review by Melanie on June 23, 2021

A reflective journey through some islands of the Caribbean with layered responses by Amryl Johnson. I can recommend reading 'A Small place' (1988) by Jamaica Kincaid on her experiences growing up in Antigua before reading this book, as some of Kincaid's observations are relevant to Johnson's respons......more

Goodreads review by Hattie on September 13, 2022

Not biggest fan of memoirs but this was an interesting and unique insight into Caribbean cultures and travel about 30/40 years ago.......more


Quotes

Sequins is a powerful and unusual book, in that it combines the familiar traveller's tales with an account of another kind of journey and process of discovery, as Johnson confronts the 'ghost who was haunting herself' in order that she might come to terms with her sense of a fragmented identity Guardian

Euphoric and infused with the pulsing bassline of calypso . . . a revelatory discovery of the shattering yet necessary inheritance of colonialism Wasafiri