Manny and the Baby

(Hardback)

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London, 1936. Two sisters are ready to take the city and the world by storm. Bath, 2012. Two young Black men are figuring out who they are, and who they want to become. Manny is forthright, intellectual, and determined to make her mark on the London literary scene. Her younger sister Rita, the Baby, just wants to dance. In the smoky clubs that pulsate underneath Soho's vibrant streets, Rita finds herself drawn into a new world of Black ambition, along with the masterful mimic and trumpeter, Ezekiel Brown, from Jamaica. As tensions rise and the shadow of fascism and war snaps at their heels, the two sisters are faced with choices that will alter their lives forever. Itai has fled London to his late father's flat in Bath. Listening to cassette tapes his father made, he feels both drawn in and shut out of his former life - who is Rita Why did his father record her life story And where can he find her now, to return the tapes Meanwhile, his developing friendship with Josh, a young athlete who moonlights as a dealer to fund his training for the next Olympics, is on unsteady ground, as Josh has been sent by his bosses to find out what the hell Itai is doing in Bath. Manny and the Baby is a character-driven debut novel, full of heart, about what it means to be Black and British, now and in the past.

Reviews

Manny and the Baby stood out for me from the first few lines. The beautifully balanced prose, the wonderful story, and sumptuous detail are constructed with poetic precision and held my attention right until the very end.

Author Bio

Varaidzo is a writer, editor, and artist. She was previously the Digital Editor at Wasafiri, and the Arts & Culture Editor at gal-dem. Her short story 'Bus Stop' was shortlisted for the Guardian 4thWrite Prize 2018. She is a contributor to the bestselling anthology The Good Immigrant (Unbound, 2016) and the romance anthology Who's Loving You (Trapeze, 2021). Her essays and articles have been featured in The Guardian, New Statesman, and Dazed, amongst other publications. Her art project 'Black British Figures', which documents notable black British figures pre-Windrush, has been featured in Metro, Vice UK and BBC Two, and has been exhibited in Theatre Peckham. She has presented radio shows for BBC Radio 4, Reprezent Radio and Worldwide FM, and moonlights as a podcast producer.