Book Review: Where Are You Really From?

One of the blogs I visit from time to time is Afro-Europe International Blog. I am always interested in the lives of our brothers and sisters, whether in the motherland or anywhere throughout the diaspora. I read a review of this book at the site and it peeked my interest. A Black man born and raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during the time of "The Troubles".

What fascinated me most was the fact that he was not only the product of an extra-marital affair in the 1960's, between a white Catholic woman and a Black doctor from Ghana, but more that his mother placed him in an orphanage without her family's knowledge and then adopted him.

Tim describes his life growing up as a Black child in a predominately all white neighbourhood, dealing not only with the racist attitudes of the society around him, but also with those of the British soldiers who occupied Northern Ireland at the time. His accounts of the instances where he and his family assist the IRA in their armed struggle and his political involvement in Sinn Fein, leading to his 5 year incarceration as a political prisoner makes for interesting reading.

His volatile and deeply loving relationship with his white mother, in contrast to the rejection from his African father and siblings from that side of the family, stirs up a variety of emotions and leaves one with a few unanswered questions.

Well written, engaging, enlightening with a triumphant spirit throughout. A journey through a unique life that is well worth taking.