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by Grace Virtue (Author)
". . . enlightening, poetically engaging, and deeply relevant to today's America, and for our world." -Kirandeep Singh Sirah, Storyteller, TEDx Speaker
"A modern-day Jamaican DeTocqueville, Grace critiques political and civil society and helps us see them in revealing new ways." -Matthew Creelman, Journalist, Guatemala
"A timely work that addresses the ways the construction of race goes beyond the Black-White dichotomies, particularly in the United States." -Curdella Forbes, PhD, Author, Professor of Caribbean Literature, Howard University
In Old House and Red Neckties, Grace Virtue weaves a powerful narrative, juxtaposing ideas of home and belonging against stark intergenerational poverty and systemic inequities-legacies of slavery and colonialism in her homeland, Jamaica. Migration to the United States, a coveted option for many, presents transformative opportunities, intertwined with displacement, disjuncture, and oppression-symbolized by a red necktie.
Armed with the finest values of her village, Old House, Grace takes the reader on a journey through deeply complex spaces as she engages the world in unexpected ways.
Thought-provoking and inspirational, Old House and Red Neckties is about authenticity, resilience, and the unyielding spirit of one individual determined to live in dignity and freedom. It is also a clarion call to rethink our perceptions of poverty and oppression and work toward a more just world.
