{"product_id":"abeng-9780452274839","title":"Abeng","description":"\u003cb\u003eA lyrical coming-of-age story and an essential retelling of the colonial history of Jamaica.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Originally published in 1984, this critically acclaimed novel is the story of Clare Savage, a light-skinned, middle-class twelve-year-old growing up in Jamaica in the 1950s. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e As Clare tries to find her own identity and place in her culture, she carries the burden of her mixed heritage. There are the Maroons, who used the conch shell--the abeng--to pass messages as they fought against their English enslavers. And there is her white great-great-grandfather, Judge Savage, who committed a terrible act of violence on the eve of emancipation. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In Clare's struggle to reconcile the conflicting legacies of her own personal lineage, esteemed Caribbean author Michelle Cliff dramatically confronts the cultural and psychological brutality inflicted upon the island and its people by colonialism.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMichelle Cliff\u003c\/b\u003e (1946-2016) was a Jamaican-American author whose writing explored colonialism and racism. Her body of work includes novels, \u003ci\u003eAbeng\u003c\/i\u003e, its sequel, \u003ci\u003eNo Telephone to Heaven\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eFree Enterprise\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eInto the Interior\u003c\/i\u003e; short story collections, \u003ci\u003eThe Store of a Million Items \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eBodies of Water\u003c\/i\u003e; and poetry collections, \u003ci\u003eThe Land of Look Behind\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eClaiming an Identity They Taught Me to Despise\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Plume Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50641391878418,"sku":"9780452274839","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_51090257-c640-4cff-af12-93ec99ef6cc0.jpg?v=1733013844","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/abeng-9780452274839","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}