Why read Red Dust Road?

Book cover of Red Dust Road

Book description

Taking the reader from Glasgow to Lagos and beyond, Red Dust Road is a heart-stopping memoir, a story of parents and siblings, friends and strangers, belonging and beliefs, biology and destiny.

With an introduction by the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon.

From the moment when, as a little girl,…

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Glasgow

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Red Dust Road as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Eileen Kay

Author

My heart leaps when I think of this story.

It’s magical. poignant, deeply felt, and not always the easiest journey, but a beautiful, heartfelt one, as she seeks out her biological parents – a Scottish mother and a Nigerian father – and their descendants.

To me, she’s a sweet, radiant, nervous shining light of hope. I felt I was right next to her as she went on her search. It was like a detective story. She had quite a team of people helping her, and I was on that support team too. I felt like she allowed me to climb…

From Eileen's list on The best memoirs with heartwarming travels.

Susie Orbach

Author

Jackie and her brother were adopted by a loving working-class family in Glasgow. They were communists and thoughtful about the adoption process. Jackie becomes a beloved poet and a wonderful public performer. She was recently made the Poet Laureate of Scotland – The Scots Makar. In this book, she traces her childhood and her quest to meet her father in Lagos and to discover her biological parentage and story. It’s a story of belonging and of not belonging. Of finding, fitting, and not fitting. It moves and uplifts us.

From Susie's list on The best contemporary memoirs by women.