TA-TA GRANDMA

When Flinty&rsquo,s mother Blossom returns after seven years from Toronto to ,Spring Valley, a rural Jamaican village, ,she finds her teenage son facing ,the same dim future as the island, which is sizzling with the political ,tensions of the 1970&rsquo,s, and idling out his life on a dangerous roller-coaster of ,misadventures. Ta-ta, Grandma ,opens with Flinty, who lives with his grandfather Hutch ,and his sprightly grandmother Catherine. ,He and his four, restless ,friends pull every trick to avoid school work. Flinty, whose passions are ,cricket and reggae music, plans to leave for Canada, learn how to build ,earthquake-jolting music sound ,systems and then return to put fear into ,God-fearing Christians, with thunderous, irreverent noise. Even after a ,new, tough, male teacher challenges Flinty, nothing is preventing him ,and his trouble-prone friends from ,tumbling from one mischief to the ,next&mdash,until tragedy strikes and forever changes their lives. This fast paced, high tension story&mdash,woven through with traditional folk ,tales, juicy gossip, political tension, and death-defying cricket matches&mdash, ,is hilarious, mystical and insightful. Set in the picturesque, lush, rolling ,hills of ,Jamaica&rsquo,s Cockpit-Country region,Ta-ta, Grandma is superb for ,adults, young and old, who want to skip the familiar tourist destinations ,and trek deeply into the island&rsquo,s interior to experience its warmth and caring culture._,