In the Castle of My Skin (Penguin Modern Classics)

'They won't know you, the you that's hidden somewhere in the castle of your skin'

Nine-year-oldG. leads a life of quiet mischief crab catching, teasing preachers andplaying among the pumpkin vines. His sleepy fishing village in 1930sBarbados is overseen by the English landlord who lives on the hill, justas their 'Little England' is watched over by the Mother Country. Yetgradually, G. finds himself awakening to the violence and injustice thatlurk beneath the apparent order of things. As the world he knows beginsto crumble, revealing the bruising secret at its heart, he is spurredever closer to a life-changing decision. Lyrical and unsettling, GeorgeLamming's autobiographical coming-of-age novel is a story of tragicinnocence amid the collapse of colonial rule.

'Rich and riotous' The Times

'Its poetic imaginative writing has never been surpassed' Tribune

Reviews

Fluent, poetical, sophisticated