Foreigners: Three English Lives

"Black people," Caryl Phillips reminds us, "have been present in English life since the time of the Roman occupation." Yet, as the paradox in the title of his book neatly points out, their presence still provokes deep-seated questions about place and identity. Foreigners reimagines the true stories of three black men trying in different ways and different eras to make England their home. Through a compelling blend of fact, fiction and reportage, Phillips explores the lives of Francis Barber, Samuel Johnson's "faithful negro" and long-time companion, who was afforded an unusual amount of freedom (which would help to hasten his demise after Johnson's death); Randolph Turpin, Britain's first black boxing world champion, who made history in 1951 by beating Sugar Ray Robinson, but died in debt and despair; and David Oluwale, a Nigerian stowaway who arrived in Leeds in 1949 and died at the hands of the police 20 years later. It is a depressing triptych, bearing witness to a terrible history of wasted potential that many would rather forget.