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In the Castle of My Skin
George Lamming
Novel, 1953
A boy grows up in a 1930s–40s Barbadian village under plantation and colonial order, as labour unrest and social change arrive.
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Books set in Barbados
Five books by writers from Barbados, set there, that give a real sense of the place, starting with In the Castle of My Skin and The Polished Hoe.
About the literature of Barbados
Barbados's best-known book is George Lamming's In the Castle of My Skin, a 1953 novel of a boy growing up in a plantation village under colonial rule. Lamming left for England in 1950, and Austin Clarke settled in Canada, so much of the island's most celebrated writing looks back at home from abroad. Writers use English, with Barbadian speech running through the dialogue, and sugar estates, slavery and the road to independence in 1966 come up again and again.
Clarke's novel The Polished Hoe takes place over a single day in 1952 at a sugar plantation house. Cherie Jones's How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House is set in present-day Barbados, between tourist-resort wealth and the poor coastal community of Baxter's Beach. Andrea Stuart's Sugar in the Blood is a family history that traces her ancestors from seventeenth-century sugar plantations through slavery and emancipation.
By writers from Barbados
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The Polished Hoe
Austin Clarke
Novel, 2002
One day in 1952 at a Barbadian sugar plantation house, exposing the lasting violence of colonial class, race and sexual power.
How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House
Cherie Jones
Novel, 2021
A contemporary Barbados split between tourist-resort wealth and the poor coastal community of Baxter's Beach, with violence and family secrets.
Growing Up Stupid Under the Union Jack
Austin Clarke
Memoir, 1980
A memoir of a 1940s Barbadian childhood, showing the colonial school system, class aspiration and British cultural dominance.
Pig Tails 'n Breadfruit
Austin Clarke
Memoir, 1999
A memoir framed around Barbadian food and the Saturday cooking ritual, showing island history, class and family life through the kitchen.
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