A Kindness to the Children

by Joan Riley

The lives of three Jamaican women converge in this powerful novel from one of Britain's foremost black women writers. In the volatile setting of contemporary Jamaica, a lethal cocktail of emotion, history, betrayal, and despair is on the brink of explosion...Sylvia has traveled to Jamaica for the first time to visit the place of her husband's childhood and to finally come to terms with his death. But Sylvia's cousin Jean is on her way from England as well, carrying with her a legacy of pain and torment that will be much harder to reconcile. And Pearl, who has remained in Jamaica all her life, is struggling to find her own sense of independence. An exceptional novel from the highly praised author of The Unbelonging, Waiting in the Twilight, and Romance. 240 pp 5 x 8

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Joan Riley (born 26 May 1958) is a Jamaican-English author. Her 1985 novel The Unbelonging made her "the first Afro-Caribbean woman author to write about the experiences of Blacks in England".

She was born in St. Mary, Jamaica, the youngest of eight children, and received her early education on that island before emigrating to the United Kingdom in 1976. There she studied social work at the University of Sussex and the University of London. She has worked at a drugs advisory agency and wrote about the experiences of Caribbean women.

(from Wikipedia)