Sea of Tears

Jasmine's parents are increasingly worried about the dangers to their precious only daughter in South London so they have decided to move back, after 20 years, to Barbados. Her friends all think it's a wonderful opportunity, but all she knows is that she will miss them and the only life she has known. In Barbados her initial attempts to make friends with local teenagers meet with ridicule and she steals a motor yacht in a foolish attempt to get back to England. Rescued by a fisherman and his son, Jasmine begins school and encounters more prejudice and dislike because she is English, until she is saved from a group of bullies and befriended by the fisherman's son, Devlin. Devlin is fascinated by her stories of England and agrees to help her stowaway on a ship to get back there. This exciting adventure story explores issues involved in migration and feelings of loneliness and being trapped in a place where one doesn't want to be.

Floella Benjamin Obe is an iconic children's television presenter, producer, actress, and author who for over 30 years has dedicated her life to making children happy and campaigning for their well-being. She has written over 20 books including Skip Across the Ocean, My Two Grannies, and My Two Grandads, for Frances Lincoln, as well as her acclaimed two-part autobiography, Coming To England, which was made into a film for BBC TV in 2003, and The Arms of Britannia, of which the Daily Telegraph said, "Few other books are as enlightening ? or as important ? as this one."

In 2004 Benjamin was given a Children's BAFTA Special Award, and in 2010 she was made a Life Peer, with the title Baroness Benjamin of Beckenham, Kent. She is also Chancellor of Exeter University. She is married with two children and lives in South London