The Black and White Museum by Ferdinand Dennis #BookReview #BlogTour

 

From Ferdinand Dennis, the critically acclaimed author of the novel Duppy Conqueror, comes The Black and White Museum, a collection of both highly personal and universal short stories. These at their heart reveal the emotional  drama of faded love, the loss of individual and shared memory and the wistful  longing for home. His stories powerfully portray the black presence in post Windrush London, with its hurtling gentrification and everyday racism.  Ferdinand's characters gain wisdom and maturity with age but become powerless, as they are less able to change the course of their lives. For some there is the temptation of a return “home” but home, like London, has also moved on and is not the paradise of their memories. 

I'm delighted to be hosting the blog tour for The Black and White Museum today. Many thanks to Ferdinand Dennis, Hope Road Publishing and Anne Cater for inviting me and for my copy of the novel.

Although I don't read many short story collections, I am occasionally drawn to the genre and despite not being familiar with Ferdinand Dennis' writing, I loved the sound of The Black and White Museum. My instincts were proven right and I very much enjoyed this exploration of what is accurately described as 'a collection of both highly personal and universal short stories.'

The opening story is also entitled The Black and White Museum and it was the highlight of the book for me. At first, there's a rather whimsical sense to it as readers are introduced to Papa Legba, proprietor of the Emporium on Kingsland High Street in Hackney where the cluttered miscellany of books, herbs, icons and charms isn't tempting any customers to enter the shop. However, when Papa Legba renames his establishment 'the Black and White Museum', both the store and story gradually change and this becomes a razor-sharp examination of Britain's continuing commendation of the slave trade and of the appropriation of Black culture and suffering by the fashion and music businesses. The biting wit prevents it from becoming too heavy but it is excellent; a thought-provoking and uncomfortable read.

London is as much a character in many of these stories as the characters who are brought to life for a few pages. The descriptions capture the ever-changing diversity of the city, recognising it as the place which has become home for those who have moved far away from the where they were born, while still acknowledging their ties to their past and the racism they have faced in Britain. Turning White is one of the best examples of this; it's a bittersweet story of a middle-aged man losing his hair but is actually about how people - and particularly young black men are judged by their appearance.

There is a rather melancholic feeling to the compilation with a few stories about ageing, often accompanied by experiences of  lost or unrequited love. Nine Nights was another of my favourites; the funeral setting allowing for nostalgic reminiscences and perhaps a re-evaluation of the past, while the beautifully poetic Nights at the COAC is a mysterious tale with a magical realism feeling to it. It's not just romantic love which comes under the spotlight here, with Father and Daughter and The Unfinished Tapestry both being poignant looks at the relationships between parents and their children.

Perhaps the most touching stories however, are Christmas Fire, about a man who wants the perfect Christmas for his wife and children and Dawg Dead which is one of the few first-person tales in the collection and is utterly heartbreaking as the narrator remembers the friendships he made while walking his dog. Both stories are a moving study of loneliness and don't offer any trite solutions as it's the recognition of the issue which is important here rather than a simple happy ever after. Humour is used to great effect too, however, with the voice of the narrator coming through with real verve in The Dinner Lady as she recounts why she is looking for a new job, 'Babes'. 

The Black and White Museum is a captivating, lyrical short story compilation and though I've not mentioned them all, there isn't a weak story in the book. Each is perfectly formed and though I would like to know more about what happened afterwards to some of the characters, I never felt cheated by the constraints of the form and enjoyed them all immensely. I'm grateful to have been introduced to Ferdinand Dennis through this superb anthology and look forward to reading more by him in the future. Highly recommended.

The Black and White Museum is published by Hope Road Publishing and can be purchased from the publisher's website, bookshop.org, Hive, Waterstones, Amazon or ordered from your favourite independent bookshop.

Don't miss the rest of the blog tour, details are below.

About the Author

FERDINAND DENNIS is a writer, broadcaster, journalist and lecturer, who is Jamaican by birth but at the age of eight moved to England, where his parents had migrated in the late 1950s. Dr James Procter notes: “Perhaps as a result of his Caribbean background, Dennis is a writer ultimately more concerned with routes than roots.” Other books by Ferdinand Dennis: The Sleepless Summer; The Last Blues Dance and Duppy Conqueror, which also published by HopeRoad. The author lives in North London.