Red Dust Road - Softcover

Kay, Jackie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330451065 ISBN 13: 9780330451062

Publisher: Picador, 2011

Synopsis

`Like the best memoirs, this one is written with novelistic and poetic flair. Red Dust Road is a fantastic, probing and heart-warming read' Independent From the moment when, as a little girl, she realizes that her skin is a different colour from that of her beloved mum and dad, to the tracing and finding of her birth parents, her Highland mother and Nigerian father, Jackie Kay's journey in Red Dust Road is one of unexpected twists, turns and deep emotions. In a book remarkable for its warmth and candour, she discovers that inheritance is about much more than genes: that we are shaped by songs as much as by cells, and that what triumphs, ultimately, is love., `A clear-eyed, witty and unsentimental account of the push and pull between nature and nurture. Happiness shines through' Sunday Times `Wonderful, humane . ., . This is a book with resolution, determination and honesty' Scotland on Sunday `It is Kay's abundant wit that makes Red Dust Road such a moving, spirited work. This is a terrifically easy, evocative, and often amusing read ., . . A remarkable, soul-searching journey' Sunday Herald

About this title

Review:

'From its hilarious opening, it is apparent that [Kay's] memoir is a clear-eyed account of the push and pull between nature and nurture... the strength, humour and charm at the heart of this memoir are a tribute to the couple who made Kay never question her right to be happy' --Sunday Times

'Honest, human and sad... As much as it is a love letter to Africa, this memoir is also a love letter to [Jackie's adoptive parents], whose care and commitment made Kay who she is today. It is touching, full of strength and truth' --Independent on Sunday

'Once stood near Jackie Kay on a station platform and I chickened out of fanboying and telling her how awesome I thought she was and her book was, so this would be an opportunity to redress that Epic Fail. It's above all for her novel Trumpet that I want to offer fealty. I found it so intensely moving - I felt as if I was reading with something sitting on my chest. And there on page 186 is the description of an angry, confused man, relenting enough to nod and wink at the little boy watching him, fascinated, on the tube. He is rewarded with "a smile to die for". "Doesn't cost much, Colman thinks. Doesn't cost much to nod at a little geezer and make his fucking day." In an era when slanders about the supposed odiousness of human nature are routine, the kindness and love in that observation don't just make it beautiful; they make it important' --Guardian

`Red Dust Road is a terrific read worthy of all the bouquets bestowed on it. A special treat was her own inimitable interpretation on Radio 4' --Herald

Book Description:

Jackie Kay's compassionate, life-affirming and extraordinarily moving memoir

About this edition

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0330451065
• ISBN 13: 9780330451062
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304