Before migrating to Canada in 1976, Michelle Thompson had an idyllic life in East Kingston. That was shattered by her parents’ marital problems, but memories of the good times lingered.

Those bittersweet years inspired A Way To Escape, Thompson’s first book, which was released in September by LMH Publishing. It has been launched in her hometown of Toronto and New York.

Though she has lived in the land of the maple leaf for 40 years, Thompson said her East Kingston years kept her going during the early years of migration.

“That’s how I’ve managed to survive the cold, brutal winters. I remember as a child, where I lived in Doncaster, East Kingston, on the weekends running down to the beach at the end of my road, diving into the water like the grown-ups, listening to music on the radio, RJR and JBC, relishing stewed peas and rice, curried goat,” she reminisced. “I don’t enjoy these anywhere else but in Jamaica.”

After earning a master’s degree in social work from the University of Toronto, Thompson became a clinical social worker in the greater Toronto area.

A Way To Escape is also an ode to her mother, Joyce Thompson, a dressmaker who raised her six children after separating from her abusive husband, the author’s father.

Joyce Thompson is ‘played’ by Rose Tomlinson, who moves to Canada in the early 1970s on an invitation letter. Five years later, she is able to send for her children.

Like the ‘Tomlinsons’, many families moved to Canada by invitation during the 1970s, a time of political divisiveness in Jamaica. The Canadian Government, led by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, had a liberal immigration policy.

Michelle Thompson thought she had a good story to tell, and not just with Jamaicans.

“I enjoyed writing a Jamaican family saga that’s loosely based on my family’s journey, so it wasn’t a stretch. For these reasons, it is my plan to have A Way to Escape as required reading in schools, especially Canadian schools,” she said.