Bespoke memoir.
Sandra Perkins approached us in 2013 to document her mother-in-law's story, a brave woman who came into her own when many countries were gaining their independence from the UK.
This book takes us through the eyes of Edrisse Perkins, a young woman who decided, back in the 1950s, that she wanted to forge a career in the medical field. She travelled by ship to England and overcame personal and social obstacles that allowed her to achieve a level of success atypical of a woman at the time.
Edrisse was printed on Birch Paper, a paper selected to add texture to the story, personality, memorabilia and design. The Cover is a textured fine grey linen.
REGIONS COVERED: Antigua, Montserrat, UK, Trinidad and Tobago.
“There are stories within us all and these guys are the ones to capture them in beautiful bespoke books. I used Plantain to help my husband’s family tell their story and they were overjoyed with the result.” - Sandra Perkins
“My father was a very quiet man and he never spoke much about his parents. His mother wasn’t alive when I was young and I always assumed that his father went to work on the Panama Canal but I don’t know the full story.”
“I was the second oldest out of nine siblings…”
“My classmates never perceived me as coming from a wealthy family at all. Not at all! You see, I never even thought of things like that to be quite honest.
I was more on the serious side.”
“My parents made sacrifices to send me to a private, all girls school. Languages were definitely my pet subjects and I did Latin, French, and some Spanish. I used to like French a lot and although Latin is really a dead language, I found it helped me in my life, especially with the technical terms later on when it came to nursing.”
“When I left I didn’t take anything with me. It’s not like I had many possessions anyway…”
“This photo must have been taken during a special occasion. Perhaps this was one of the times when Thomas acted as administrator because he was highly-positioned. That is me on the left hand side closer to the forefront. I don’t know if it was the Queen’s birthday, but at the time they would have held a parade for something like this. In the background you have the treasury building and the post office.”
“Aboard the RMS Queen Mary, we were two in a room although I can’t remember who the other person was. I didn’t know her. We slept on bunk beds and the food was the same every day. Luckily, I didn’t get seasick because with those huge liners, you can hardly feel them moving.”
“What I remember about the volcano is that you hear it first. A humming sound…like a plane...”
“…there is this sight I remember of children being evacuated…”