Kei Miller was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1978. He read English at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies and obtained an MA from Manchester Metropolitan University.

He has taught Prose Fiction at the University of the West Indies, and is now teaching Creative Writing at Glasgow University.

His stories and poems have been published in a variety of journals and anthologies, and he has won a number of Jamaican literary awards. His first poetry collection, KINGDOM OF EMPTY BELLIES (Heaventree Press), was published in 2006, and his second collection, THERE IS AN ANGER THAT MOVES (Carcanet Press), came out in October 2007.

His story collection, FEAR OF STONES (Macmillan Caribbean), was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2007.

His first novel, THE SAME EARTH, will be published in March 2008 by Orion, and has been selected for the Waterstones 'New Voices' campaign.

When she was 18, Imelda's parents decided she should join the throngs of Caribbean people landing on England's shores. But her relative fails to meet her off the plane and she is forced to fend for herself until she is lucky enough to be taken in by Purletta Johnson, a member of the ex-pat bourgeoisie –now more Jamaican than any Jamaican.

When her mother dies Imedla returns to her home village of Watersgate, choosing Jamaica over England. 1983 Watersgate is stuck in time; rather than embracing the music revolution represented the likes of Shabba Ranks, it is dominated by the Evangelical church and the thundering voice of Pastor Braithwaite.

When Tessa Walcott's panties are stolen she and Imelda decide to set up a Neighbourhood Watch. But they haven't counted on Pastor Braithwaite who denounces them in Church (if God can look after the sparrows then he can certainly look after a washerwoman's panties). Imelda finds herself caught in a battle that symbolises everything about the divided village...