What's in a Name? : Friendship, Identity and History in Modern Multicultural Britain by Sheela Banerjee

A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR'A brilliantly enlightening book . . . at times moving, at others ironic, full of insights and detail'Michael Rosen'A kaleidoscopic portrait of the UK . . . with insight and compassion'Irish TimesOur names are so mundane that we barely notice them. Yet each contains countless stories of tradition and belonging - be that a legacy of colonialism or persecution, the desire to fit in, or the complex cultural inheritance from one's parents. In What's in a Name?, Sheela Banerjee unravels the personal histories of friends and family through their names. And while tracing their heritage across centuries and continents - from west London to British India, and from 1960s Jamaica to pre-Revolutionary Russia - Sheela also tells the story of twentieth-century immigration to the UK. Blending history, memoir and politics, What's in a Name? is a celebration of Britain's rich multiculturalism, an ode to friendship and a testament to all the stories held within our names. 'Absolutely fascinating . . . the stories woven into this superb book will stay with me for a long time. I cannot recommend it highly enough'Priscilla Morris, author of Black Butterflies
Binding: Hardback