In his forty-six short years, Mr. Mohun Biswas has been fighting against destiny to achieve some semblance of independence, only to face a lifetime of calamity. Shuttled from one residence to another after the drowning death of his father, for which he is inadvertently responsible, Mr. Biswas yearns for a place he can call home. But when he marries into the domineering Tulsi family on whom he indignantly becomes dependent, Mr. Biswas embarks on an arduous -- and endless -- struggle to weaken their hold over him, and purchase a house of his own.
When a flood destroys Gavin Weald's home, tearing apart his family and his way of life, he doesn't know how to continue. A year later, he returns to his rebuilt home and tries to start again, but when the new rainy season arrives, so do his daughter's nightmares about the torrents, and life there becomes unbearable. So father and daughter and their dog - embark upon a voyage to make peace with the waters. Their journey will take them far from their Caribbean island home, into other unknown harbours and eventually across a massive ocean. They will sail through archipelagos, encounter the grande... continue
_____________________________ * A BBC TWO BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK FOR 2023 * 'This shimmering slice of Trinidadian gothic deserves to be a Booker contender . . . [A] sumptuous, brilliantly written novel' THE TIMES 'An astonishing novel – linguistically gorgeous, narratively propulsive and psychologically profound' BERNARDINE EVARISTO 'Deeply impressive . . . Energy and inventiveness distinguish every page' HILARY MANTEL 'The biggest, most frightening, beautiful and alive novel I've read in as long as I can remember' EVIE WYLD _____________________________ A 2023 highlight for: Financ... continue
A stranger could drive through Miguel Street and just say 'Slum!' because he could see no more. But to it's residents this derelict corner of Trinidad's capital is a complete world, where everybody is quite different from everybody else...Set during World War II and narrated by an unnamed - but precociously observant - neighbourhood boy, Miguel Street is a work of mercurial mood shifts, by turns sweetly melancholy and anarchically funny. It overflows with life on every page.
Coconut trees. Carnival. Rum and coke. To many outsiders, these and other sunny images are all they know about life in the Caribbean. However, if you want to learn how the locals truly live and experience the dark and often harrowing truths that lurk behind the idyllic imagery of Caribbean culture, then come visit the town of Pleasantview. Come during election season, and see how one candidate sets out to slaughter endangered turtles - just for fun. Or come on the day the other candidate beats his "outside-woman," so badly she ends up losing their baby. Then come on the night of the political ... continue
Sometimes you have no control over what will happen next, as I discovered the year I was twelve years old. . . Ana Rosa is a blossoming young writer growing up in a poor seaside village in the Dominican Republic. At twelve, she finds herself faced with turning points that will make up who she is--watching her brother's search for a future, learning to dance and to love, and finding out what it means to be a part of a community. But in a country where words are feared, Ana Rosa must struggle to find her own voice and the means for it to be heard. Gradually she learns that her words have the pow... continue
Combining the honesty, warmth, and humor of Queenie and a modern-day Bridget Jones's Diary, this entertaining, transportive, and luminous debut novel from award-winning writer Breanne Mc Ivor follows a young Trinidadian woman finding her voice and a new kind of happy ending. Bianca Bridge has always dreamt of becoming a writer. But Trinidadian society can be unforgiving, and having an affair with a married government official is a sure-fire way to ruin your prospects. So when Obadiah Cortland, a notoriously tyrannical entrepreneur in the island's beauty scene, offers her a job, Bianca accepts,... continue