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  • Published: 4 May 2021
  • ISBN: 9780241482667
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $24.00

Minty Alley

A collection of rediscovered works celebrating Black Britain curated by Booker Prize-winner Bernardine Evaristo




The only novel from the revolutionary intellectual C.L.R. James, and the first novel by a black West Indian to be published in the UK

It is the 1920s in the Trinidadian capital, and Haynes' world has been upended. His mother has passed away, and his carefully mapped-out future of gleaming opportunity has disappeared with her.

Unable to afford his former life, he finds himself moving into Minty Alley - a bustling barrack yard teeming with life and a spectacular cast of characters. In this sliver of West Indian working-class society, outrageous love affairs and passionate arguments are a daily fixture, and Haynes begins to slip from curious observer to the heart of the action.

Minty Alley is a gloriously observed portrayal of class, community and the ways in which we are all inherently connected. An undisputed modern classic, this is an exceptional story told by one of the twentieth century's greatest Caribbean thinkers.

  • Published: 4 May 2021
  • ISBN: 9780241482667
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $24.00

About the author

Cyril Lionel Robert James

C L R James, historian, novelist, cultural critic and political activist, was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad in 1901. In 1932 he joined his friend Learie Constantine in Britain, where he became cricket correspondent of the Manchester Guardian. A central figure in the Pan-African movement and the struggle for colonial emancipation, he returned to Trinidad in 1958 in its run-up to independence. He later went back to London, where he died in 1989.

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Praise for Minty Alley

The book should be read by everyone who wishes to learn about early Caribbean life and who would like a deeper understanding of this author of masterpieces

Fred DAguiar