Island Wings: A Memoir

Biographies & Memoirs

Foster, Cecil

Memoirs

HarperCollins, Publishers

Island Wings : A Memoir

HarperCollins Publishers Canada, Limited

A Place Called Heaven : The Meaning of Being Black in Canada

Originally intended to be a white man's country, Canada helped develop the prototype for the nation-state that privileged the descendants of Western Europe and marginalized all others, including those who were aboriginal to the land. This is the prototype that also characterized apartheid South Africa. 
Now, thanks to the policies of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Canada has done an about-face on race and is the world's first official multicultural country. But race and ethnicity are still serious issues. In Where Race Does Not Matter, Cecil Foster, one of Canada's leading intellectuals, argues that Canada can leave a legacy to the world—a legacy of true multiculturalism where all citizens are generally equal and race truly does not matter. This brilliant polemic challenges the prevailing wisdom about racism and offers a model for the future.

Where Race Does Not Matter: The New Spirit Of Modernity

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Penguin Canada

"A moving story, rich in detail, told with great sensitivity and affection." NEW YORK NEWSDAY It is 1964. Howard lives a hand-to-mouth existence in the small island protectorate of Barbados with his brothers, two aunts, and his grandmother. He is waiting for his parents, who left for England long ago, to send for him. And as the sparks of independence crackle all around them, Howard's life changes forever when Mr. Bradshaw, a black headmaster, is hired for his school. Howard begins to blossom under Bradshaw's guidance, and learns that neither freedom nor knowledge comes without sacrifice, and that even battles won leave victims. In this beautiful, poignant, and ultimately hopeful novel, the fate of one Bajan family rests in the hands of change--change that only liberation and learning can bring. From the Trade Paperback edition.

No Man in the House

Literature & Fiction

United States

Ballantine Books

"A moving story, rich in detail, told with great sensitivity and affection." NEW YORK NEWSDAY It is 1964. Howard lives a hand-to-mouth existence in the small island protectorate of Barbados with his brothers, two aunts, and his grandmother. He is waiting for his parents, who left for England long ago, to send for him. And as the sparks of independence crackle all around them, Howard's life changes forever when Mr. Bradshaw, a black headmaster, is hired for his school. Howard begins to blossom under Bradshaw's guidance, and learns that neither freedom nor knowledge comes without sacrifice, and that even battles won leave victims. In this beautiful, poignant, and ultimately hopeful novel, the fate of one Bajan family rests in the hands of change--change that only liberation and learning can bring.

Genre Fiction

When Cecil Foster's No Man in the House was published, E. Annie Proulx proclaimed that "he shows the brave characters of West Indian women as no one else has." Now, in Sleep On, Beloved, Foster tells the moving story of a Caribbean immigrant woman who leaves behind everything in order to build a better life for her family. Ona Morgan is a passionate, determined woman who leaves her Jamaican home, her friends and traditions, and her newborn daughter, Suzanne, to come to North America. Thwarted by the demons of bad luck, lack of money, and an unfortunate marriage, Ona is plunged into an alien culture and a painful struggle against racism. As her young daughter grows up in Jamaica, devotedly cared for by her beloved grandmother, Ona must defer her plans to bring Suzanne to Toronto again and again. It takes twelve long years before Suzanne and Ona are reunited. But Suzanne cannot warm to this mother who left her behind, and who never prepared her for the harsh realities of life in North America. Now Ona is left to struggle with the rebelliousness of her beloved daughter. Ona and Suzanne find themselves locked in battle, each too proud and too damaged to ask for help. Suzanne punishes her mother by hiding the obedient, devout Suzanne of Jamaica and creating a new, urban Suzanne--hard, rebellious, and detached. It is only when Ona, overwhelmed by worldly pressures, becomes utterly lost that Suzanne allows her true self to emerge--strong, resourceful, and able to rebuild her mother's shattered hopes.

Sleep On, Beloved

One World/Ballantine

No Man In The House

Random House Canada

"A moving story, rich in detail, told with great sensitivity and affection." 
NEW YORK NEWSDAY 
It is 1964. Howard lives a hand-to-mouth existence in the small island protectorate of Barbados with his brothers, two aunts, and his grandmother. He is waiting for his parents, who left for England long ago, to send for him. And as the sparks of independence crackle all around them, Howard's life changes forever when Mr. Bradshaw, a black headmaster, is hired for his school. Howard begins to blossom under Bradshaw's guidance, and learns that neither freedom nor knowledge comes without sacrifice, and that even battles won leave victims. In this beautiful, poignant, and ultimately hopeful novel, the fate of one Bajan family rests in the hands of change--change that only liberation and learning can bring.

World Literature

Vintage Canada

Ona Morgan is a passionate, determined woman who leaves her Jamaican home, her friends, traditions, and her newborn daughter, Suzanne, to come to North America. It takes twelve long years before Suzanne and Ona are reunited.

Sleep On Beloved

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Books by Foster, Cecil