#Book Talk #Talk at Library
Talk At Guildhall Library - Itinerant Sailors and Displaced Ayahs - The West India Docks During Wartime
15th April 2025
I will be giving a talk at the Guildhall Library on Monday the 21st of July from 2 to 3pm about my inspiration for writing the West India Dock Road Series. It is free to attend - tickets are available here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/itinerant-sailors-and-displaced-ayahs-the-west-india-docks-during-wartime-tickets-1286258356369?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
Here's a little more about it:
In 1938, war was looming, but the West India Docks was home to a mixed community. Ships from the colonies brought men of all hues who collected at the docks during call out. There were also ayahs who had travelled to England with British families, abandoned in a strange country with no means of going back

Did they, eventually, find their community in this alien land? “New Arrivals on West India Dock Road” is the first book in Renita D’Silva’s historical saga series. She talks about her inspiration for the series and read us an extract from the book.