One Love Two Colours: The Unlikely Marriage of a Punk Rocker and His African Queen [Paperback]

I bought this book after being handed a promotional postcard by the co-author in question - in the street. How strange, I remember thinking, that the writer has to promote his book in this way.

However, after reading his card, and then book, I am only glad that I happened across this guy. This is a very original book, with lots of taboo issues that we, as black women generally, only discuss in private - away from the media glare. Child abuse, colour-`grading', why we stick to our own race in the dating game, food (!), sex, identity...all these issues (and a lot more) are raised in this book - alongside Margaret and Bobby's life story.

Their own story is sometimes sad, often funny but consistently educational. Via their own feelings - towards each other and society in general - we get to see inside our own heads and the prejudices that lie dormant.

This is a very good book and one that deserves mainstream acclaim, as it has something genuinely interesting to say - about the authors and the reader - rather than being just another depressing misery memoir.

One Love Two Colours is a courageous book. Bobby Smith and Margaret Oshindele-Smith explore a fraught subject - a mixed race marriage - that is muddied with society's contrary agendas. Yet they have managed to produce a work that is thought-provoking and also extremely entertaining. The technique they employ is straightforward. Each chapter covers a particular topic. Some are unique to the couple - Hobbies, Children. Others explore race in a wider context.

Some of the opinions will be considered fairly controversial. Bobby is scathing about the way race has been used as a political football by the left, the PC brigade, the right and the extreme right. He gives forthright opinions why he believes one reason for the perpetuation of racial tension is the way liberal western society still obsesses about the topic. People are too sensitive about it and often too quick to play the race card. He argues against the categorisation that comes with our overtly PC times - the bewildering array of ethnicity boxes in government forms.

Margaret, of Nigerian Christian, offers a refreshing alternative. She accepts English culture has given much to the world but she also bemoans the secularism she blames for eroding young British morals. Yet she is equally welcoming of the UK's equal opportunities compared to the sexism and materialism of Yoruba culture.

There are many interesting racial debates. Coming from a white and black couple in love gives a poignancy beyond the statistics quoted to back-up their arguments. Both Bobby and Margaret's honesty gives this book depth. Bobby is candid about childhood bullying. Margaret gives instances of encounters with racists, from patronising liberals to BNP-voting peabrains.

Their story also works on a personal level and is frequently hilarious. Whether its Bobby championing the culinary delights of the potato, enthusing about Wolverhampton Wanderers or German Oi music, or Margaret's confession to being a collector of `Gollywogs', this book is a celebration of love. Love that has endured, despite the snide comments from people who still haven't worked out how to use their brains.

Another issue that continues segregating society is attitudes towards mental ill-health. If you enjoy One Love Two Colours, check out BrainBomb BrainBomb: A Lurid Story of Bi-Polar Illness or Bedlam Bedlam.

Let's face facts this is not the first book to deal with the issue of inter-racial relationships and it's highly unlikely to be the last, it might well however be the most original, unusual and compelling.

The thing that this book brings to the table is that it is intensely personal. This is not a compilation of pop-psychobabble phrases or cold dispassionate socio-political analysis, this is a very warm, human and personal account of the marriage between an English Punk Rocker and his Nigerian wife as told in their own very idiosyncratic ways.

Be warned this book goes into intimate details of every aspect of their lives and marriage in a way that might be a little uncomfortably intimate for some readers, but rarely have I ever encountered such a personal book where the authors' personalities bleed through onto the page and engage you so thoroughly.

It is refreshing that this book is about a successful marriage as too many tales of "woe is me" negative literature that gives a cheap fix of misery for the voyeuristic and inter-racial relationship averse reader already exist. This is a book about hope, about the fact that whilst some things in life are not easy and come fraght with obstacles, these barriers can be overcome, and it is worthwhile to do so, if the love between two people is strong enough.

The book is at it's best when covering the details of the couple's meeting, getting together and their efforts to maintain and strengthen the bonds between them, which is approximately the first two thirds of the book. Later on the joint authors digress to cover the wider social and political issues of race relations in the UK in the 21st Century and whilst a tad of the intimacy built up over the course of the earlier chapters is lost, it still remains a thought-provoking and unique book in these latter stages. You may not agree with the opinions and conclusions they draw (I certainly didn't in every case) but you can't deny that the views are intensely personal and well argued and that in some cases they may surprise you and cause you to re-evaluate your own position and perception on specific points.

In conclusion this is a great book that you won't put down until you finish it. It is truthful and sometimes painfully honest and whilst it doesn't shy away from the problems the couple faced or some of the negative aspects of racial relations in this country, these are very rare downbeat notes in an otherwise supremely uplifting slice of real life.