In this revealing and poignant account of the life of her son, reggae icon Bob Marley (1945-1980), Mother Cedella Marley Booker traces the unique history of Bob Marley and his contribution to popular music as only a parent could. Booker recalls her poor rural upbringing in the district of Nine Miles in Jamaica, her parents' relationship, and her courtship with Captain Marley, the white man forty years her senior who turned up one day in her father's fields and took Cedella to his bed when she was just sixteen. Their child was Bob Marley, who would introduce the world to reggae, and whose talent would later transform the course of popular music with such classics as "Get Up, Stand Up," "Buffalo Soldier," "No Woman, No Cry," Stir It Up," and "One Love." With admirable candor, Booker shares her struggles in raising Bob on her family's farm in St. Ann's and the crime-riddled streets of Kingston, and her courageous move to start a new life in the United States. Bob stayed behind in Jamaica to perfect his music, though the two remained close as he began his transformation into reggae superstar and cultural prophet. Booker details Marley's embrace of Rastafarianism, the women in his life, his use of ganja, and his last months when Cedella nursed him until he succumbed to cancer. This book is a true look at Marley's life-not just as a cultural icon, but as a son.

"Every country (if she's lucky) gets the Mark Twain she deserves, and Winkler is ours, bristling with savage Jamaican wit, heart-stopping compassion, and jaw-dropping humor all at once."-Marlon James, author of John Crow's Devil

With his characteristic outrageousness, Anthony C. Winkler defies taboos and subverts conventional thinking in this entertaining, thought-provoking, and ultimately uplifting novel.

Anthony C. Winkler was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1942, and is widely recognized as one of the island's finest and most hilarious exports. His Caribbean classic The Lunatic (Akashic Books) was turned into a feature film, and his last novel, Dog War, was published in May 2007 by Akashic. He lives with his wife in Atlanta, Georgia.

In this outrageously out-of-order, hilarious novel, the reader discovers that lunacy is by no means restricted to the village madman, and that goodness and forgiveness may be rarer qualities, found in unexpected places.

Aloysius is tolerated by neighbors but forced to eke out a living by doing odd jobs, using the hospitable woodlands for shelter. He is starved of human companionship; instead he has running conversations with trees and plants. Then love, or a peculiar version of it, comes to Aloysius in the form of a solidly built German lady, Inga Schmidt, who has come to Jamaica to photograph the flora and fauna.