The Louder I Will Sing, Lee Lawrence
The Louder I Will Sing, Lee Lawrence
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The Louder I Will Sing
A story of racism, riots and redemption: Winner of the 2020 Costa Biography Award

Author: Lee Lawrence

Narrator: Ben Bailey Smith, Candice Brathwaite, Lee Lawrence

Unabridged: 6 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/19/2020


Synopsis

WINNER OF THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY PRIZE 2020

This audiobook includes an exclusive interview with Candice Brathwaite and Lee Lawrence

'This is the story of arguably one of the most important, yet least known, events in modern British history. Lee's journey and fight for justice are both inspiring and enraging. That it has taken this long for the story of the shooting of Cherry Groce to become properly publicly retold is in itself another tragedy. We can only hope that Britain learns from the valuable lessons contained in these pages' - Akala

What would you do if the people you trusted to uphold the law committed a crime against you? Who would you turn to? And how long would you fight them for?

On 28th September 1985, Lee Lawrence's mother Cherry Groce was wrongly shot by police during a raid on her Brixton home. The bullet shattered her spine and she never walked again. In the chaos that followed, 11-year-old Lee watched in horror as the News falsely pronounced his mother dead. In Brixton, already a powder keg because of the deep racism that the community was experiencing, it was the spark needed to trigger two days of rioting that saw buildings brought down by petrol bombs, cars torched and shops looted.

But for Lee, it was a spark that lit a flame that would burn for the next 30 years as he fought to get the police to recognise their wrongdoing. His life had changed forever: he was now his mother's carer, he had seen first-hand the prejudice that existed in his country, and he was at the mercy of a society that was working against him. And yet that flame - for justice, for peace, for change - kept him going.

The Louder I Will Sing is a powerful, compelling and uplifting memoir about growing up in modern Britain as a young Black man. It's a story both of people and politics, of the underlying racism beneath many of our most important institutions, but also the positive power that hope, faith and love can bring in response.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Stephen on August 13, 2022

detailed book detailing the family journey for justice after the shooting of Cherry Groce in a police raid in Brixton 1985 with a before and after the author's mother (Cherry) death and the process of trying to obtain answers and how the police tried to block and the overall ingrained Racism of the......more

Goodreads review by Phil on May 19, 2021

What an incredible account of a dignified response to a family tragedy. Lee Lawrence fought his family's corner against institutional racism and still had the compassion to try and turn the outcome into a positive contribution to society.......more

Goodreads review by John on June 29, 2024

A moving and instructive account of the repercussions of a UK police officer shooting an innocent black mother told by her son. Long before George Floyd was a familiar name from the USA Cherry Groce was left paralysed in her own home in London as a result of a police raid. Her son Lee Lawrence tells......more

Goodreads review by Olivia on January 05, 2025

Getting through and finishing this was very emotional. We see so much BLM activity coming from the States that it can be easy to think racism is their problem and that we're all alright here. This is about Cherry Groce's family and life, right on my doorstep in my community, about events which unfol......more

Goodreads review by Pipa on August 26, 2021

This one was really, really hard to read. This is the memoir of Lee Lawrence, and his fight for the police to take accountability following an officer’s unlawful shooting of his unarmed mother, Cherry Grose, in their Brixton home in 1985. She ended up paraplegic and eventually died as a result of her......more


Awards

  • Costa Biography Award