West Indian poet Ian McDonald journeys down the generations of his family, describing with a loving and fascinated eye his ancestors, including warriors, poets, actors, doctors, merchants, sportsmen and civil servants, and concluding with his grand-parents and beloved parents.

Delve a little deeper get to know the people more, what they did and tried to do, their dreams and desires and hurts and joys, how they lived and loved and worked and fought and played and died, their triumphs and tragedies: that is no foreign country of the heart and soul - that is home to all of us. What one inherits, and what one in turn passes on, is the stuff of life itself and always will be.