BARBARA MAKEDA BLAKE HANNAH is a noted Jamaican writer, intellectual, filmmaker and cultural consultant. She is the author of JOSEPH: A RASTA REGGAE FABLE and is a former senator in the Jamaican parliament.

 

David, your book is a fascinating tale of Jamaica in the Manley/Marley Seventies that has so much fact, you wonder where fiction ends and truth begins. I like how you tell the story through a young American schoolboy who happens to become Marley's friend while -- unknown to him -- his father is a CIA agent working to de-stabilize Manley. The Orange Lane Fire, the Peace Concert, the Elections and other famous incidents come to life in the story in surprising ways. I was surprised that some 'real' characters appear like Manley, his wife Beverley, Marley's wife Rita and girlfriend Cindy, plus all the other characters of the politically turbulent times. But it's all fiction --- or is it? I found it hard to put down, a very accurate picture of Jamaica in its most interesting, formative times. Asks some interesting questions, makes some astonishing allegations. I enjoyed it a lot. Defiinitely a MUST READ.