Spotlight on: Our Community

Family Lore by Elizabet Acevedo

Flor has a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. So when she decides to host her own living wake – bringing together her family and community to celebrate her long life – her sisters Matilde, Pastora and Camila are concerned. What has she foreseen?

But Flor isn’t the only one with a secret. Matilde has tried to hide the extent of her husband’s infidelity for years, and now must confront the true state of her marriage. Pastora – always on a mission to solve her sisters’ problems – needs to come to terms with her past. And Camila, the youngest sibling, has decided she no longer wants to be taken for granted.

Alongside their struggles, the next generation of Marte women face their own tumult of family obligations, infertility, and heartache.

Black Butterfly by Priscilla Morris

Sarajevo, spring 1992.

Each night, nationalist gangs erect barricades, splitting the diverse city into ethnic enclaves; each morning, the residents – whether Muslim, Croat or Serb – push the makeshift barriers aside. When violence finally spills over, Zora, an artist and teacher, sends her husband and elderly mother to safety with her daughter in England.

Reluctant to believe that hostilities will last more than a handful of weeks, she stays behind while the city falls under siege. As the assault deepens and everything they love is laid to waste, black ashes floating over the rooftops, Zora and her friends are forced to rebuild themselves, over and over.

Theirs is a breathtaking story of disintegration, resilience and hope

A Nurse’s Tale by Ola Awonubi

Princess Ademola arrived in England from Nigeria in 1939, full of hope that training as a midwife would give her the skills to provide a better future for her kingdom. But as Nazi Germany rose to power, Ademola found herself living in a country plunged into war.

Working in a busy London hospital, the Princess must navigate not only the challenge of nursing during the war, but the prejudice of the people she is trying to help.

80 years later, in 2019, Ademola’s great niece, Yemi, arrives in London clutching her great aunt’s precious diaries and longs to uncover the mysteries they hold.

Life Lessons from Hip-Hop by Grant Brydon

Take control of your narrative and become the best version of yourself with 50 Hip-Hop inspired lessons that will inspire a new generation.

Grant Brydon has interviewed some of the biggest names in hip-hop. Here he shares the creative directions and tips derived from one-on-one conversations with Pharrell Williams, J Cole, Big Sean, Nipsey Hussle, and many more.

With chapters covering motivation, creativity, authenticity, mental wellbeing, resilience, and more, the advice gleaned from these important artists’ life experiences will help you to face up to your own challenges and inspire you to make simple changes that have major positive consequences.

Empire Windrush by Onyekachi Wambu

In June 1948 the SS Empire Windrush docked in Tilbury, carrying with it the hopes and dreams of hundreds of young men and women from the Caribbean.

It was both a point of departure and a historic transformation, a moment which influenced generations of writers and artists and produced much poetry, prose, fiction, journalism and influential essays.

In this collection, journalist and writer Onyekachi Wambu collates some of the best and most significant writing from the 75 years following the arrival of Empire Windrush.