A book, a TV series, and most recently a play at the National Theatre, Andrea Levy’s novel is wide in its range, showing the viewpoints of four main characters over several years and three continents. When she was ten years old, Floella Benjamin, along with her older sister and two younger brothers, set sail from Trinidad to London, to be reunited with the rest of their family. Being happy with her family again, helped her cope with the discrimination, she settled in and it felt like home.

BBC iPlayer - Coming to England BBC iPlayer - Coming to England

I thought she would meet the Queen one day but I would have liked an extra page in the book to explain how this happened. In his last book – he died in 2014, this book finished by his collaborator Schwarz), he tells of the struggle to reconcile a feeling that he belongs neither to Jamaica or to Britain. Ever since she arrived in England as a young girl she's been bringing us all together, and helping people from different backgrounds understand each other.This is a true story with a powerful message: that courage and determination can always overcome adversity. Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Donate Ellipses icon An illustration of text ellipses.

Coming to England: An Inspiring True Story Celebrating the Coming to England: An Inspiring True Story Celebrating the

If she wants to survive, Floella will have to prove herself and deal with the racism and rejection that she is faced with. Another reason to read these books, which fill out the story of those who came to Britain in the first wave, and those who came after. I think anyone who has read Coming to England gets the picture and gets the idea about what I'm talking about, but anyone who hasn't lived through the specific experience at the particular time needs some help on details, for example the kind of hats and suitcases people had at that time, or the setting of Southampton Docks in the 1950s. You can tell that Floella and Diane Ewen, the illustrator, worked closely together to recreate Floella’s world, making me feel as though I was there with her.When Lawrie is crossing Clapham Common one morning he makes a terrible discovery and finds himself accused of a heinous crime. The Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury in June 1948, but when we talk about the “generation” it is about more than just the passengers on that one boat.

Coming to England by Floella Benjamin, Diane Ewen - Waterstones

In 2018, the Windrush scandal uncovered the shocking official treatment of Caribbean immigrants from that era. Are you feeling more positive about representation in books now, after so many years of not seeing what you first articulated as a problem back in the 1980s? So a black child should see themselves in a book in a positive way: as an angel, as a superhero, as the boss. I love the illustrator’s vibrant colours in the book when Floella’s talking about Trinidad and the way the colours change in England.

The warmth and strength she gained from her family are strongly evoked, as are her feelings of bewilderment at the ignorance and racism they encountered.

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The book also has one of the funniest scenes I’ve read, involving a pigeon, a starving Galahad and a little old lady. Turkey, the Maldives, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, Oman, Kenya and Sri Lanka are all coming off the red list after 4am on September 22. When Moses shows Henry – AKA Sir Galahad – how to get on, he is also showing the reader what it cost them to get by. Gentleman was the journalist who first exposed the scandal and has rightly won awards for her reporting.

I dare say someone who didn't feel that personal link to the story may have done a fantastic job, but I just wanted to give an extra level and Diane gave just that.