The Girl from Montego Bay: The Autobiography of Britain’s First Black Woman Bishop (hardcover)

‘The late South African president Nelson Mandela once famously declared, “It always seems impossible until it is done.” His words could easily have been applied to the life of Rose Hudson-Wilkin… there is a genuine exuberance in her narration that is both contagious and inspiring.’
THE MOST REVD MICHAEL B. CURRY, XXVII PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH, from the foreword

The Girl from Montego Bay is the autobiography of trailblazer Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Britain’s first black woman bishop, who has been right at the heart of a changing nation for over forty years.

As a student, Rose had a poster over her desk that read: ‘Do not go where the path leads. Instead, go where there is no path and leave a trail.’

And she does! Offering eye-opening insights into her humble and challenging beginnings in Jamaica, Rose charts her call to train as an evangelist at the Church Army College in London, where she met her future husband, Ken. Captivatingly open to the nudging of the Spirit, Rose simply has a go at everything that comes her way. The discrimination she’s faced, due to her gender and minority-ethnic background, is very real. Yet Rose’s infectious energy and humour shine through stories of her beloved Hackney, the ten years she ministered to (sometimes wayward) colleagues in Parliament, and her joy at playing a major role in the Coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla in 2023.

Rose discloses that if there’s one thing she would like to see change in her lifetime, it’s that accomplishments like hers stop being ‘firsts’ and simply become normal.

Appointed MBE in the 2020 New Year Honors for ‘services to young people and the Church’, and listed in the 2020 and 2021 Power list of the 100 the most influential people in the UK of African/African-Caribbean descent, Rose discloses that if there’s one thing she would like to see change in her lifetime, it’s that accomplishments like hers stop being ‘firsts’ and simply become normal.