When Lorna's great-grandfather, William Harvey, discovered a clearing at the end of a path cut by the feet of escaping slaves, he gives his name to what became his family's home for generations. For Lorna's mother, Doris, Jamaica's Harvey River was the place she always called home, where she was one of the 'fabulous Harvey girls' and the rich local bounty of yams, pimentos and mangoes went hand in hand with the Victorian niceties and comforts of her parents' house. Doris was a big-hearted lover of big stories and raised Lorna on tales of their family's - and Jamaica's - history. Years later, when her fortunes changed, it was a place she returned to in her dreams She and her husband relocated to 'hard life' Kingston and encountered the harsh realities of urban living at close quarters as they raised their family of nine children.

Gorgeously written with unashamed joy and peopled with a cast of wonderfully drawn characters, Lorna Goodison's memoir weaves together memory and island lore to create a vivid and universally appealing tapestry.