The re-publication of Lionheart Gal marks an event unique in contemporary literature. It is the distillation of the Jamaican woman’s experience in fifteen compelling life stories from the internationally known Sistren Theatre Collective. Since 1977 the women of Sistren have been exploring the lives of Caribbean women, from which they create plays, workshops and screen prints for presentation throughout the Caribbean and elsewhere. This book is based on testimonies from Sistren collected and edited by Honor Ford-Smith into a vivid record of women’s lives. The stories retain all the emotional depth of works of the imagination; yet they are at the same time invaluable records of oral history. Scholars of language, culture, politics and literature will need this book; the general reader will revel in it. “These `sistren' dare to present themselves just as they are - the sounds of their days and their souls intact.” - Alice Walker