From Flying Fish to Kippers

Following the success of her two bestselling novels, Ginger Lily and Easter Lili, Margaret Knight delivers yet another highly enjoyable read. Set mostly in England shortly after the end of World War II, Barbadian born and bred Patricia ‘Trixie’ Ridger is extremely unhappy that her parents have decided to send her to boarding school in England. Her culture shock is all the more exaggerated by the fact that Britain is just emerging from a six year war and that, together with taunts about her ‘peculiar accent’ and being called a ‘Colonial’, could easily have made her miserable. Instead, she finds an inner strength and resilience that carry her through. Populated throughout with marvellously drawn characters, Margaret Knight manages to pepper her fast moving storylines with the ever present spectre of racism that lay just below the surface in post war Britain. Trixie’s experiences at the West Indian Students’ Centre in London and her best friend’s dilemma on discovering her mother wants to marry a Jamaican provide the reader with some fascinating insights.