Escape from the white ghetto

Imagine being nine years old and walking to the market with your mother while tripping over the debris from WWII bombing. And then suddenly seeing a child's toy lying half-covered beneath black char and rubble.

This was Bill Walkey's reality growing up. He depicts such scenes in this book of heartfelt short stories.

With both sadness and rays of understanding, he explores themes such as the poverty and pride of the local people amid war-torn Birmingham during the early 1950s.

Bill takes us through a period of history that was not experienced by many or has now been forgotten.

However, it has not been forgotten by him. The book began as a way to clear memories that have long haunted Bill.

Now, they find expression on the pages he wishes to share with his children and their children: "Personal reflections relevant today" Bill calls them.

Birmingham's bombed areas were cleared in the 1960s and the city was rebuilt and pedestrianized.

Nothing of what Bill has shared in Escape from the White Ghetto remains today.