The Space Between Black and White

Illuminating her inner journey growing up mixed-race in Britain, Esua Jane Goldsmith's unique memoir exposes the isolation and ambiguities that often come with being 'an only'.

Raised in 1950s South London and Norfolk with a white, working-class family, Esua's education in racial politics was immediate and personal. From Britain and Scandinavia to Italy and Tanzania, she tackled inequality wherever she saw it, establishing an inspiring legacy in the Women's lib and Black Power movements. Plagued by questions of her heritage and the inability to locate all pieces of herself, she embarks on a journey to Ghana to find the father who may have the answers.

A tale of love, comradeship, and identity crises, Esua's rise to the first Black woman president of Leicester University Students' Union and Queen Mother of her village, is inspiring, honest, and full of heart.

Esuantsiwa Jane Goldsmith grew up in a working-class neighbourhood in 1950s South London, the mixed-race daughter of a white single mother and a Ghanaian father she never knew as a child. A feminist and political activist, she was the first woman-and only woman of colour-elected as President of Leicester University Students' Union in the 1970s. Following a career in women's organisations and international development, she founded Anona Development Consultancy, working with over 100 organisations on five continents as a dynamic facilitator and strategist. In 2015, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate for her work in Women's Rights.