A Country Boy

An accident-prone farmer whose misfortunes include being buried under a landslide, a three-card gambler wearing dark glasses who comes to the district, and a stranger who returns on a secret mission…these are some of the characters who Ossie meets while growing up in a rural Jamaican district. He engages with them with the guidance of his parents and teachers, and in the company of Phonso, his antagonist, and Paulette his guardian angel.

These imaginative stories are a continuation of those in Earl McKenzie’s much-loved A Boy Named Ossie. Written with similar clarity, humour and charm, they include themes such as competition, gambling, courage, environmentalism, magic, education, art, and the making of moral choices. They will raise questions about the challenges of Jamaican childhood then and now.