Against the Grain (A 1950's Memoir)

A work of great humor and insight, this memoir tracks an ambitious young Caribbean man with dreams of becoming a famous writer or pop singer from his native Montserrat to London in 1956. The young Archie's attempts to combine elements of Little Richard and Jim Dale fall short of gaining superstar status, but his reputation as a "nimble-footed, silver-tongued" poet, critic, and fiction writer is eventually realized. Beginning with a return to post-volcanic Montserrat to rediscover the now abandoned village where his grandmother's old house stood and his meticulous and moving reconstruction of his boyhood in that house, this tale explores a unique perspective of 1950s British and Caribbean culture. It is Markham's wryly humorous navigation between the poles of his family's confident sense of their worth and the racial bigotry they encounter that makes his account such a rewarding human document.