A review by dunneniamh
Mother Country: Real Stories of the Windrush Children by Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff

4.0

This is an evocative, emotional and brilliantly written collection of interviews and essays with children of the Windrush Generation, a group of Caribbean immigrants who were brought to the UK in the post-war years to help rebuild the fractured economy and the devastated country. They provided integral support to many of Britain's institutions- particularly the NHS and manufacturing industries- yet found themselves on the receiving end of racism, discrimination in housing, education and career prospects, government treatment and access to UK citizenship, and ultimately the culminating Windrush scandal. Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff writes honestly and with great care, letting his subjects speak directly for themselves and invite the reader into their individual lives. In some cases, you are talking directly with those who immigrated to the country, whereas with others you are reading about first and second generations trying to blend their own sense of Britishness with the diaspora of their heritage. It's well structured and immensely readable, without pushing politics too much. Rather, it puts the individuals right at the forefront and makes for a richly cultural, wonderfully written and often, heartbreakingly sad, memoir of many.