The Boy From Willow Bend
by Joanne C. Hillhouse

The Boy from Willow Bend tells the story of Vere, an Antiguan youth, with an irrepressible spirit which is tested as he comes of age amid poverty, loss, and hard knocks. The women in his life - his absent mother, longsuffering tanty, rebellious June, first crushes Kim and Makeba, and first girlfriend Elizabeth - help shape him; so, too, his abrasive grandfather and others. In the end, though, he grows into his own person; bright, talented, a survivor.
The Boy from Willow Bend, now on the Antigua and Barbuda schools reading list, was originally published in 2002 by Macmillan. The second edition, released in 2009, was published by Hansib.