Long Time Walk on Water by Joan Simon
James Dunbar. Jack is
what he answers to. Picking his way through the mucky incidents of life,
he consoles himself that things will get better.
They happen to meet at a bus-stop, Emily and Jack.
An account of the black
immigrant experience jostling to find its place among the white working
class. A tale of how the humble live whilst waiting for their dreams to
come true. A virtuoso performance in which the protagonists slip in and
out of names like garments to the same measure that Time shifts like the
plates of the earth, Long Time Walk on Water is, above all, an
unforgettable love story: the story of a mother’s love and the price her
family must pay for generations to come.
Excerpt:
The plane landed with a bump. Rose squeezed herself into the seat and when she opened her eyes the plane was still racing along the runway so she dug her forefingers into the rectangular metal ashtrays and closed her eyes once more. She had tried to learn the national anthem in case, after all, how could she just pick up herself and go all that way and not know a thing. Nobody she knew had learnt the British national anthem; they had better things to worry about. United Kingdom. Rose could think of nothing. Two addresses ensconced in a pocket of her handbag, that was it. United Kingdom. Great Britain. The Motherland. Hinglan…
This was it, that moment that had been beckoning her as she stood over the grave of her starved child, for whom the corn she had planted in desperation had not grown quickly enough, despite good J.A. sunshine and her nightly prayers. That moment was now real and rapping at her door. The plane had not crashed, even as it had swooped down over the island, pecking like a famished crow at a crumb. She had not been sucked out of the emergency exit, nor had her food got up of its own accord to float around. And there was air enough for everyone, like in a train, really, only you couldn’t open the windows.
The captain spoke a few words. It was a chilly day in London, they could expect repeated drizzly spells. One or two moans on board, one or two jovial remarks that the captain should take them back.
“Thank you for travelling with us. I hope you had a pleasant journey,” the English stewardess speak like a book.
“Very. Tank yu.” Rose stepped out of the aircraft. Into the Motherland.
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About the Author:
Dr
Joan Barbara Simon divides her time between researching children’s literacy
development and writing fiction. Having obtained her first Ph.D. in educational
studies, she’s dared to go for her ultimate challenge: a Ph.D in Creative
Writing. Of herself, she says: "I’ve
made it my mission to look more closely at undefined spaces as the best way to
resist the temptation and comfort of easy answers. I’m interested in a broad
range of language issues. Currently wrapping my brain around the political
properties of words as polysemic, liminal entities and the nature of their
common borders with the visual arts and gendered realities. That said, I’m a
nice girl, so talk to me."
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Scribble a note on the wall of the Maze so you can find your way out again... ;-)