Foreign Soil and Other Stories by Maxine Beneba Clarke

West-Indian, Australian is not a combination that I have come across often, and it was that interesting heritage that drew me to Maxine Beneba Clark’s writing earlier this year. I was impressed with the incredible diversity of her stories and the way she gives a voice to those who are considered invisible or disenfranchised, and even using the local vernacular in the narration.

Willemina tied the umbilical cord close to the baby’s stomach with thread from the wall rack and let the exhausted girl be, disappearing to close up shop and fetch a tub of warm water and some towels. The no-good driver was nowhere to be seen, the outline of his body-drag just a swirl in the dirt outside the shed door.