In this collection, award-winning author Austin Clarke has caught, in
his characters, a sweet longing for youth and an anxiety-stricken rage
at old age; an immigrant's longing for a placid, lost home and his lust
for a new high-speed motorcar life; and an intellectual's sense of
empowerment by black history even as he watches what little he knows
about such history engulf him. These are intense and private lives made
public by the force of their individual voices, voices that may be
rambunctious and fractious but that are, nonetheless, elegant in their
intent and humor and their acceptance that is never acquiescence. The
volume also includes a prose portrait of Austin Clarke by acclaimed
author Barry Callaghan.