The Girl from Lamaha Street: A Guyanese girl at a 1950s English boarding school and her search for belonging

The Girl from Lamaha Street is a memoir by Sharon Maas that tells the story of her childhood in British Guiana and England, where she struggled with her identity and sought a sense of home. Despite the conservative and Christian environment she was in, she found solace in books and dreamed of adventures like her literary heroes. The book is praised for its beautiful writing, poignant storytelling, and inspiring message of self-discovery and determination.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 07 April 2022
Publisher: Octopus Publishing Group

An incredibly moving, truly inspiring story of the power of determination. An absolutely stunning read.
Katharine Birbalsingh
Fascinating and poignant ... an astoundingly honest and intimate memoir.
Angela Petch

Perhaps it's true that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Perhaps it's true that you only know what you truly love when you no longer have it. But I wouldn't have known any of this if I hadn't left it all behind to discover where my home truly was...

Growing up in British Guiana in the 1950s, Sharon Maas has everything a shy child with a vivid imagination could wish for. She spends her days studying bugs in the backyard, eating fresh mangos straight from the tree and tucked up on her granny's lap, losing herself in books. But with her father campaigning for the country's independence and her mother away for work, there's a void in Sharon's heart, and she craves rules and structure. The books she devours give her a glimpse of life in a faraway country: England. And although none of the characters in these books look like her, her insatiable curiosity leads Sharon to beg to be sent to boarding school.

Life at a conservative, Christian school is quite different from Sharon's liberal, atheist upbringing. Girls march silently and single file along corridors and earn badges for deportment. There are twice-daily hymns, grace before and after meals, and mandatory bedside prayers. And, all the girls are posh and white, while Sharon is the only one with dark skin. Will she ever fulfil her dream of horseback riding over green hills and going on adventures like her literary heroes? And has she truly found what she was looking for in this chilly corner of the world, thousands of miles away from home?

You will be swept off your feet by the unputdownable.

Weight: 252g
Dimension: 128 x 196 x 31 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781909770690