Jacob Ladder

Growing up in a small Jamaican town where his father works the docks and his mother does laundry, "Tall T" both fears and loves his father, Brother John, who leaves his six children in dire poverty by losing his wages each week to bone dice and rum. As if that were not bad enough, Brother John is bewitched by the obeah woman next door and leaves his family for her.

Forced to leave school because he has no uniform, Tall T starts reading, guided by the local librarian, but he still feels helpless until he proves to himself that he is a man by climbing a 60-foot cliff called the Jacob Ladder.