Family relationships are never easy; tied together by blood, kinship, marriage or choice, family members can take one another for granted, disguise difficult truths, hold one another to account, and feel betrayal and loss keenly. In Caryl Phillips' Strange Fruit, set in 1980s Britain, Vivian and her two sons arguably experience greater obstacles than most, as they attempt to navigate their Afro-Caribbean heritage in a largely intolerant, white society. Having moved from the Caribbean many … [Read more...]

Schools are very evocative places. Walking into a classroom, smelling the chalk dust and PVC glue, seeing the brightly coloured poster paint artworks, hearing the scrape of a small chair being pulled out from under a small desk, most of us would be hit by a powerful wave of memories; some good, some bad. For Brian and Donna, summoned to meet their son’s teacher, Mr McCafferty, the memories are mostly bad. Back in those hallowed, hated halls, their confidence seeps away and they are … [Read more...]