On August 31, 2024, academic Anne Crick was feted by family and friends when she added another title to her repertoire: Novelist. The occasion was the launch of her debut work of fiction Becoming Somebody which took place at Bookophilia, on Hope Road in St Andrew. The event, which opened in prayer, also saw the intimate gathering enjoying music, camaraderie, and dramatic readings by distinguished guests, which included recently retired Sagicor executive Audrey Flowers-Clarke, international protocol consultant Phillipa Lawrence, and Janet Crick, the author’s sister and deputy director at Kingston Creative.
Becoming Somebody catalogues the protagonist Sandra’s journey from poverty to international success and is a powerful story of ambition and determination. Growing up mistreated and poor, she meets her strong-willed grandmother, who pushes her to become “somebody”. Sandra initially believes that education, marriage, and a stable career will be enough, but she soon realises she wants more. Overcoming barriers of race, class, and gender, Sandra rises to wealth and prestige, along the way, facing tough decisions that shape her path and lend scintillating plot twists to this layered story, which can be seen not as belonging to Sandra but also to Caribbean women in general striving to break free from limitations and find their place in the world.
The author later offered some insights into the novel’s creative genesis, and the inspiration behind it.
Penning Becoming Somebody, she explained, represented a shift from her traditional academic writing in her role as senior lecturer in the UWI Mona School of Business & Management, allowing her a more creative outlet to explore vexing and complex social issues. Though the book took years to complete due to the demands of work and other commitments, Crick reflected that the timing of its release — coinciding with her retirement from academia — felt fortuitous, hinting that it was just the first of many.
The event concluded with a book signing, with attendees having the opportunity to personally engage with the author, mingle with one another and make acquaintances with fellow well-wishers.
Read below for an excerpt.

EXCERPT: Becoming Somebody
“That man watch me day and night. I used to go to the little village school. He was watching me when I leave and when I come back home — everywhere I go I could feel him watching, watching…Then he started to touch-touch me. Like he was playing but he wasn’t playing. So, I told my mother and she started to get afraid so she talked to my brothers and said that they should leave and go and get jobs in the next district and send for us. But they were afraid of him, so they told her that he would just find us again.”
Miss Ivy paused for a while, and I sat waiting in suspense for her to continue.
At last, she said, “Then my mother died. She was out in the fields one day and she just dropped like a stone. Some say it was heart attack, some say broken heart, others say it was Obeah. It don’t matter — she was dead and that was my last protection. I was fourteen years old and two weeks after we buried her, that man went to the said Boopsie and told him that if they gave me to him and leave, he would write off everything that the family owed, and even give them a little cash to start over with. They sold me like how you sell a cow or a goat. Then they pick up and leave me for that man to turn into his whore. And now Boopsie want me to take his money? I would o’ dead firs’.”
Stunned, I tried to take it all in. I knew what it was like to be alone and afraid, but I hadn’t known that Miss Ivy knew it too. I suddenly felt a strong bond of affection for her. Young as I was, I had been aware of these trades in my inner-city community, but this was the first time that I cared about the person who had been sold. I was twelve and I thought of Miss Ivy just being two years older than I was now, sold to an old man. I considered how she must have felt when her brothers left her to deal with him all by herself.
I began to shudder because I knew that if I had stayed long enough with my mother, she might have sold me. I would have been helpless; just as Miss Ivy had been helpless. I felt great relief flooding over me as I recalled that I was on my way to one of the best schools in the country. If I followed Miss Ivy’s careful planning, I would never be anyone’s victim.
Miss Ivy was done with her story. She was done emotionally too. She took off her tie-head and started to undo her plaits. I saw that her hands were shaking and without being asked, I did something I had never done before. I started to undo the plaits for her and wind my fingers through her long wavy hair. I felt my grandmother exhale and then she leaned back against me. She handed me her brush and I began to brush her hair just as I had seen her do it for hundreds of nights. I finally understood her. I knew why she had beaten me and why she had saved for a day like this. She had not made it, but she wanted me to make it for her. I hated Boopsie and I hated more the man who had done this to her. I hated the men who had been allowed to shoot my great-grandfather in cold blood. I hated the system that made it happen.
“You need to become somebody,” my grandmother whispered to herself. And to me.
We grew closer after that. She was still tough and unyielding but now it was us two women against the world. As time went on, she would reveal more about her life to me…

The above excerpt of Becoming Somebody (c) 2024 by Anne P Crick is reproduced here by permission of the author.
Becoming Somebody is now available on Amazon in both eBook and paperback formats. Copies can also be purchased directly from the author by contacting her via email at anne.crick@gmail.com or through her Instagram account, @annecrick_author_jamaica.