'Harriet Tubman was brave and strong, and she was black like me. I think it was the first time I thought of wanting to be called Harriet – I wanted to be Harriet.'
Set in the 1980s in Toronto, Margaret is a 14-year-old Canadian girl of Barbados descent who is obsessed with the life and works of Harriet Tubman. She meets Zulma, who is a new immigrant from Tobago, and they quickly become best friends and share their stories. Harriet embarks on a mission to help Zulma escape from Canada and fly back to Tobago to live with her grandmother. She compiles a list: 'Things I want to change in my life' and sets about achieving her objectives. But at fourteen, coming to terms with growing-up, relationships and responsibilities is not quite so straightforward, and the parental threat of 'Good West Indian Discipline" is never far removed.
In this charming, humorous and perceptive tale of adolescence, Marlene Nourbese Philip explores the friendship of two young black girls and throws into sharp relief the wider issues of culture and identity so relevant to teenagers of all races and colours.
MARLENE NOURBESE PHILIP is a poet and writer and lawyer who lives in the City of Toronto. She was born in Tobago and now lives in Canada.
