Long Time No See: A Memoir of Fathers, Daughters and Games of Chance - Softcover

Hannah Lowe's father "Chick", a half-Chinese, half-black Jamaican immigrant, worked long hours at night to support his family - except Chick was no ordinary working man. A legendary gambler, he would vanish into the shadows of East London to win at cards or dice, returning in daylight to greet the daughter whose love and respect he courted. In this poignant memoir, Lowe calls forth the unstable world of card sharps, confidence men and small-time criminals that eventually took its toll on Chick. She also evokes her father's Jamaica, where he learned his formidable skills, and her own coming of age in a changing Britain. Long Time No See speaks eloquently of love and its absence, regret and compassion, and the struggle to know oneself.

Hannah Lowe, who has been called "one of a generation of whose work celebrates the multicultural life of London and its environs in the 80s and 90s", teaches for the Poetry School. She was born in Ilford, Essex, in 1976, to an English mother and a Chinese-Jamaican father. Her first poetry collection, Chick, was shortlisted for the 2013 Forward Prize for Best First Collection.