Sam Selvon

Moses thinks he's got it made. Originally a poor Caribbean immigrant, he is now the proud landlord of a ramshackle house in Shepherd's Bush, London. He has visions of being master of his own domain, writing his memoirs while his trusty sidekick and handyman, Bob, does all the work. But Moses's problems are far from over . . . Soon a Black Power group take over the basement, headed by the indomitable, but very sexy Brenda, and an illegal people-smuggling ring is discovered upstairs. Not to mention harassment from racist police, sheep-slaughtering in the back yard and a Black Panther (the human kind) on the loose.

Moses thinks hes got it made. Originally a poor Caribbean immigrant, he is now the proud landlord of a ramshackle house in Shepherds Bush, London. He has visions of being master of his own domain, writing his memoirs while his trusty sidekick and handyman, Bob, does all the work. But Moses problems are far from over...Soon a Black Power group take over the basement, headed by the indomitable - but very sexy - Brenda, and an illegal people-smuggling ring is discovered upstairs. Not to mention harassment from racist police, sheep-slaughtering in the back yard and a Black Panther (the human kind) on the loose.Will Moses elaborately constructed castle in the air be demolished by these unruly forces?Following the fortunes of characters from Selvons The Lonely Londoners, Moses Ascending is a hilarious and telling depiction of 1970s Britain.

The Lonely Londoners, an unforgettable account of immigrant experience and one of the great twentieth-century London novels, now in in a stunning Clothbound Classics edition.At Waterloo Station, hopeful new arrivals from the West Indies step off the boat train, ready to start afresh in 1950s London. There, homesick Moses Aloetta, who has already lived in the city for years, meets Henry Sir Galahad Oliver and shows him the ropes. In this strange, cold and foggy city where the natives can be less than friendly at the sight of a black face, has Galahad met his Waterloo? But the irrepressible newcomer cannot be cast down. He and all the other lonely new Londoners - from shiftless Cap to Tolroy, whose family has descended on him from Jamaica - must try to create a new life for themselves. As pessimistic old veteran Moses watches their attempts, they gradually learn to survive and come to love the heady excitements of London.

Irreverent, spirited ... a seriously funny novel New York Review of BooksSitting in his cramped basement room in Brixton, Battersby dreams of money, women, a T-bone steak - and a place to call his own. So he and a group of friends decide to save up and buy a house together. But amid grasping landlords, the temptations of spending money and the less-than-welcoming attitude of the Mother Country, can this motley group of hustlers and schemers, Trinidadians and Jamaicans, men and women make their dreams a reality? Selvons meticulously observed narratives of displaced Londoners lives created a template for how to write about migrant, and postmigrant, London for countless writers who have followed in his wake, including Hanif Kureishi and Zadie Smith Caryl Phillips

Durante los años cincuenta, cada vez eran más los chicos que llegaban a Londres desde las Antillas en busca de trabajo y una vida mejor. Sus sueños a menudo chocaban contra la fría niebla de una ciudad en la que los crecientes prejuicios raciales comenzaban a ocupar las portadas de los periodicos. Muchos de estos nuevos inmigrantes conocieron el hambre, la discriminacion y la soledad pero, poco a poco, lograron abrirse camino y procurarse una forma de vida.En torno a la figura de Moises Aloetta, uno de los primeros trinitenses en llegar a Inglaterra, Solos en Londres despliega un collage de vidas cruzadas y voces singulares que retrata el dia a dia de la incipiente comunidad negra en el Londres de la posguerra y al mismo tiempo nos ofrece otra vision de la ciudad: la que palpitaba en los barrios de la clase obrera y en los callejones de Notting Hill o Bayswater mucho antes de que fueran arrasados por la gentrificacion y donde era habitual ver pancartas que rezaban: Keep Britain White!Solos en Londres es la mejor novela de Sam Selvon y la primera en abordar la tematica de la inmigracion caribeña desde la optica de sus verdaderos protagonistas, quienes tanto por sus marcados acentos como por el color de su piel tuvieron que enfrentarse a la exclusion y se vieron forzados a crear una identidad colectiva. Sus voces...