{"title":"Books by Sam Selvon","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780241630877","title":"Calypso in London","description":"\u003cb\u003eIntroducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCelebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSam Selvon is now widely considered to be one of the greatest chroniclers of the West Indian emigrant experience. His evocation of voice, of place, of longing, defined for many the experience of a generation. Describing life in the Caribbean and day-to-day adventures in London, this collection features many his most acclaimed stories, including 'The Village Washer', 'A Drink of Water' and 'The Cricket Match'.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128925716658,"sku":"9780241630877","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780241630877_ba263cdc-43e0-4eba-a4ce-d723c0a04417.jpg?v=1786012472"},{"product_id":"9780141188416","title":"The Modern Classics Lonely Londoners","description":"\u003cb\u003eBoth devastating and funny, \u003ci\u003eThe Lonely Londoners \u003c\/i\u003eis an unforgettable account of immigrant experience - and one of the great twentieth-century London novels.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eThis Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an introduction by Susheila Nasta.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSam Selvon (b. 1923) was born in San Fernando, Trinidad. In 1950 Selvon left Trinidad for the UK where after hard times of survival he established himself as a writer with \u003ci\u003eA Brighter Sun \u003c\/i\u003e(1952), \u003ci\u003eAn Island is a World\u003c\/i\u003e (1955), \u003ci\u003eThe Lonely Londoners\u003c\/i\u003e (1956), \u003ci\u003eWays of Sunlight\u003c\/i\u003e (1957), \u003ci\u003eTurn Again Tiger\u003c\/i\u003e (1958), \u003ci\u003eI Hear Thunder\u003c\/i\u003e (1963), \u003ci\u003eThe Housing Lark\u003c\/i\u003e (1965), \u003ci\u003eThe Plains of Caroni\u003c\/i\u003e (1970), \u003ci\u003eMoses Ascending\u003c\/i\u003e (1975) and \u003ci\u003eMoses Migrating\u003c\/i\u003e (1983).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf you enjoyed \u003ci\u003eThe Lonely Londoners, \u003c\/i\u003eyou might like Jean Rhys's \u003ci\u003eVoyage in the Dark \u003c\/i\u003eor Shiva Naipaul's \u003ci\u003eFireflies, \u003c\/i\u003ealso available in Penguin Modern Classics.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'His \u003ci\u003eLonely Londoners\u003c\/i\u003e has acquired a classics status since it appeared in 1956 as the definitive novel about London's West Indians'\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'The unforgettable picaresque ... a vernacular comedy of pathos'\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201448313010,"sku":"9780141188416","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780141188416.jpg?v=1786011518"},{"product_id":"9780241504123","title":"The Lonely Londoners","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Lonely Londoners, \u003c\/i\u003ean unforgettable account of immigrant experience and one of the great twentieth-century London novels, now in in a stunning Clothbound Classics edition.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201619591346,"sku":"9780241504123","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780241504123.jpg?v=1786012869"},{"product_id":"9780241441329","title":"The Housing Lark","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Irreverent, spirited ... a seriously funny novel' \u003ci\u003eNew York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSitting 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?  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Selvon's 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\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43206034096306,"sku":"9780241441329","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780241441329_8ace429b-a928-405c-a8ec-832a609a7942.jpg?v=1786012900"},{"product_id":"9780241504390","title":"Moses Ascending","description":"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' problems are far from over...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSoon 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWill Moses' elaborately constructed castle in the air be demolished by these unruly forces?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFollowing the fortunes of characters from Selvon's \u003ci\u003eThe Lonely Londoners\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMoses Ascending\u003c\/i\u003e is a hilarious and telling depiction of 1970s Britain.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56229271175541,"sku":"9780241504390","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780241504390_1436efe8-afe3-4f6f-8680-3a65b2a69bd3.jpg?v=1786012872"},{"product_id":"9780712353762","title":"Into the London Fog","description":"\u003cp\u003eAs the fog thickens and the smoky dark sweeps across the capital, strange stories emerge from all over the city. A jilted lover returns as a demon to fulfil his revenge in Kensington, and a seance becomes a life and death struggle off Regents Canal. In the borough of Lambeth, stay clear of the Old House in Vauxhall Walk and be careful up in Temple - there's something not right about the doleful, droning hum of the telegram wires overhead... Join Elizabeth Dearnley on this atmospheric tour through the Big Smoke, a city which has long fuelled the imagination of writers of the weird and supernormal. Waiting in the shadowy streets are tales from writers such as Charlotte Riddell, Lettie Galbraith and Violet Hunt, who delight in twisting the urban myths and folk stories of the city into pieces of masterful suspense and intrigue. This collection will feature a map motif and notes before each story, giving readers the real-world context for these hauntings and encounters, and allowing the modern reader to seek out the sites themselves - should they dare...\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56294417695093,"sku":"9780712353762","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780712353762_dddb0b17-bbc5-4b0e-8f49-5b4ffc8ffb02.jpg?v=1786014778"},{"product_id":"9780241654538","title":"Ways of Sunlight","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A delightful book, a pleasure to read and reflect over afterwards ... for humour, sprightliness and downright exuberance at being alive' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'You could be lonely as hell in the city, then one day you look around you and you realise everybody else is lonely too'\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis irresistible, bittersweet collection of short stories from the supreme chronicler of West Indian lives in Britain brings together two worlds: Trinidad and London. Here is an illicit love affair on a plantation, gossip and rivalry between village washerwomen, a boy rebelling against his parents' traditions. Here too is life after leaving for England: hustling for work, eking out money for the gas meter in winter, dancing in clubs, discovering romance in a night-time park, experiencing unexpected kindness, dreams and disenchantment.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56311653892469,"sku":"9780241654538","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780241654538_60ff238d-db3a-4076-8f1e-37c53f6f6b78.jpg?v=1786012865"},{"product_id":"9781350496576","title":"The Lonely Londoners","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eLondon will do for you for now… And I will do for London.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLondon, 1956. Newly arrived from Trinidad, Henry ‘Sir Galahad’ Oliver is impatient to start his new life. Carrying just pyjamas and a toothbrush, he bursts through Moses Aloetta’s door only to find Moses and his friends already deflated by city life. Will the London fog dampen Galahad’s dreams? Or will these Lonely Londoners make a home in a city that sees them as a threat?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the first stage adaptation of Sam Selvon’s iconic novel about the Windrush Generation, Roy Williams sweeps us back in time to shine a new light on London, friendship, and what we call home.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis edition of \u003ci\u003eThe Lonely Londoners\u003c\/i\u003e is published to coincide with the world premiere at London's Jermyn Street Theatre in February 2024 and the subsequent production at The Kiln Theatre in January 2025.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56312221237621,"sku":"9781350496576","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781350496576_248eb85a-db53-42ad-b929-00f13bb922de.jpg?v=1786018291"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-sam-selvon.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}