Stuck for some read-spiration? Here’s Lifestyle’s pick for March...

Growing Out

over from Jamaica as a teenager, Barbara’s journey is remarkable. She finds her footing in T , and blossoms collec Bar

IF YOU don’t already have this book in your collection, then Lifestyle implores you to grab a copy of Barbara Blake Hannah‘s Growing Out Travelling

Covering incredible celebrity stories, travelling around the world and rubbing shoulders with the likes of Germaine Greer and Michael Caine –her life sparkles. But with the responsibility of being the first lack woman reporting on T comes an enormous amount of pressure, and a flood of hateful letters and complaints from viewers that eventually costs her the job.

In the aftermath of this fallout, she goes through a period of self-discovery that allows her to carve out a new space for herself first in the and then back home in Jamaica – one that allows her to embrace and celebrate her Black identity, rather than feeling suffocated in her attempts to emulate whiteness and conform to the culture around her.

Part of the Black Britain: Writing Back series – selected by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo, this series rediscovers and celebrates pioneering books depicting Black Britain that remap the nation and reframe our history. There are 10 other books in the series. Growing Out provides a dazzling, revelatory depiction of race and womanhood in the 1960s from an entirely unique perspective.

Cheated

Adina Rose Benedict

Benedict tells the story of a young woman, Chastity, who felt unloved growing up, lacked the attention and support she craved from her family, and consequently suffered with low self esteem.

As an adult, she eventually makes the transition from the pain of her past to discovering the power of purpose and making a success of her life.

The author tells Lifestyle that the tale is ‘somewhat autobiographical’ with events based on a true story.