A Song in a Strange Land
How do you sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? How do you live and eventually flourish in an initially alien, sometimes hostile environment?
Two brothers differ on how to do so.
Andre, the older brother, seeks to assimilate, to take on the culture and identity of the land within which he lives. Lennox, thinking himself more independent, seeks to integrate, to discover then assert his own identity.
Both brothers encounter hostility. Both internalise their experiences. Both reach boiling point.
A Song in a Strange Land is a the true story of the lives and times of a second generation Windrush family spanning from the 1970s until present day. The story is told in the first person, the protagonist, Lennox Mourillon, and is based heavily upon the real life experiences of my brother and I.
It is a deeply personal account of a second generation immigrant family of mixed heritage in the Lincolnshire area.
I am a Stranger in a Strange Land
I am a Stranger in a Strange Land is the first of three novels by Leon LeBlanc covering the Windrush generation of West Indian immigrants to the UK.
The protagonist, Tio Mourillon, travels from Dominica in the Caribbean to the United Kingdom in April 1956 upon the SS Auriga in hope of earning earning enough money to enable him to buy a Bedford truck when he returns to his native land. He joined many from near and far, answering the call to work in the booming UK steel industry, which was about to burst into the 'white heat of technology'. His plan is that upon returning he will then wed his fiancee, Clara the schoolteacher, and make a better life for himself.
Upon arrival, however, things do not go entirely to plan. He meets and later marries a local girl, Judith May, who hails from a nearby village. Tio and Judith seek to move to the village in which Judith spent much of her childhood, but in the process of doing so encounter opposition.
I am a Stranger in a Strange Land is the story of one man and his family trying to establish his place in this world. It is based on the life of my father, Max LeBlanc. Tio was his pet name as a child. Mourillon was the maiden name of his mother, Elmie Mourillon. The novel chiefly spans the years 1956 to 1964, years of profound change in the social fabric of the United Kingdom.