CULTURE EDITION Book Club Whether it’s a literary thriller or memoir, settle in for a great month of reading with these summer picks Words CHARLOTTE GRIFFITHS
HOW TO SAY BABYLON
SAFIYA SINCLAIR
This hauntingly poetic, exquisitely written memoir shares the story of the Jamaican author’s childhood, tumultuous adolescence and multiple attempts to escape from under the authoritarian rule of her Rastafarian parents. The first-born child to a brilliantly clever mother and musician father, Safiya’s life and hopes are curtailed by her parents’ ardent Rastafarian beliefs: as a result of her father’s religious fervour and refusal to compromise, the young family lives in poverty, drifting to ever-smaller dwellings, forcibly isolated from their extended family and subject to stringent rules that could change in a moment. Her militant, terrifying and radically patriarchal father was once a mildly famous artist recording albums in Japan, but now scrapes together a living angrily playing Bob Marley songs for tourists at beachfront hotels, institutions which have swallowed up the island’s perfect coastline. After performances, he returns home to rage at the injustice meted out to his fellow Rasta, while furiously questioning his daughter’s ever-decreasing commitment to the faith. Her mother has long known that education is the way out, and encourages her daughter to seek a future using her skills for literature and poetry, but as Safiya expands her horizons, her father’s grip on his family becomes tighter and more violent. Will she and her siblings ever escape? Or will her father’s warnings of Babylon’s evils prove prophetic? A magnificent, beautifully drawn book about the power of education that deserves its place on awards lists and at the top of your to-read pile.
A book about the
power of education
This clever, beautifully written literary thriller begins at a dinner party, complete with all the associated stresses. Robyn and her wife Cat are hosting a large group including their old friend Willa and husband Jamie, and Robyn’s brother Michael and his new girlfriend Liv. Tensions are already high when the subject of Willa’s long-missing sister rears its head. Willa explains to newcomer Liv that Laika disappeared at age 13, having left the house slightly earlier in the day than her sister: Willa made it to school, but Laika was never seen again. Pieces of the story then begin falling into place. We get glimpses of the siblings and Willa spending balmy summers in the country together when younger – as well as a nascent, uncertain romance blossoming between Willa and Robyn – and the first shards of suggestion that life was not easy at Laika and Willa’s own family home. Disturbing and intricately plotted, this is a deliciously dark summer read that’s sure to unsettle you on your sun lounger. THINGS DON’T BREAK ON THEIR OWN SARAH EASTER COLLINS
18 AUGUST 2024 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
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