Now available after over four decades the first collection of short fiction from bestselling author and Barbadianborn Canadian luminary Austin Clarke winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Trillium Book Award for his novel The Polished Hoe is a vital lyrical and provocative exploration of the Black immigrant experience in Canada. Originally issued in 1971 Austin Clarkes first published collection of eleven remarkable stories showcases his groundbreaking approach to chronicling the Caribbean diaspora experience in Canada. Characters move through the mire of working life of establishing a home for themselves of reconciling with what and who they left behind all the while contending with a place in which their bonechilling reception is both social and atmospheric.