Literature

Ronald Williams' second novel, A Death in Panama is a worthy follow up to his highly successful first novel, Four Saints and an Angel. It is a book that will delight and mystify those who became instant fans, and for readers new to his work, it will have the impact of a seduction. Set in Panama, Barbados and the U.S., A Death in Panama presents us with the mysterious and frightening world of the Panama of the first decade of the 20th century when the canal was being built and fortunes were being made. Many of those fortunes were made in highly unlawful ways.

A Jamaican Storyteller's Tale A Novel By Lorrimer Burford Underpinned by common Jamaican themes, A Jamaican Storyteller's Tale tells the story of a young man intent on saving an aspect of his heritage that is dying- the storytelling. He is heavily influenced by his father's skill at relating these stories.When his family migrates, he comes face to face with the possibility of losing this part of his heritage-forever. By merging these tales with the story of this young man, Burford skilfully creates a supernatural synthesis which captures and tantalizes the reader. ______________________ Having read Lorrimer Burford's "A Jamaican Storyteller's Tale," I feel proud to be a country bumpkin. I am even more proud because the settings of the tales are all from the parish of my birth. The duppy stories are intricately, yet easily woven and are guaranteed to give even the experienced reader goosebumps. Thank you for causing me to relive my rich cultural heritage. I wish that all who read this magnificent work will want to know more about Jamaican folklore and will tell their own stories to keep our oral traditions alive. OLIVER SAMUELS, Actor, Performer

On an inward-looking island dominated by the Catholic Church, John Lestrade mourns both the death of friends and the inauthentic, suffocating quality of his own life. When he feels he can no longer find solace in his regular means of escape—a room on a hill—he forsakes his self-imposed exile and finds himself drawn to action and defiance. Opening himself up to change, John discovers hope and gleans the possibility of change and an escape from the inauthentic. Originally published in 1968, this intense and minimalist novel engages philosophical ideas, religious tradition, and colonial consciousness.

The Caribbean Heritage Series is designed to publish historic re-publications of Trinidad Literary Roots and comprises four Trinidadian novels published between 1838 and 1907. This second volume in the series presents two novels, Adolphus, a Tale and The Slave Son. Adolphus was first published in 1853 and was probably written by a Trinidadian mulatto, thus making it the first Trinidadian, and possibly the first West Indian, novel written by a mulatto and the first novel written by someone born and reared in Trinidad. A dramatic nineteenth-century tale, originally published in the newspapers of the day, Adolphus, traces the adventures of a mulatto son of a black slave women raped by a white man. Raised by a kind Spanish-Trinidadian padre, Adolphus grows into a handsome, well-educated, noble character. Later falling in love with Antonia Romelia, he manages to rescue her from a villainous kidnaper and they flee to Venezuela where they are free to marry. The Slave Son was originally published in 1854 by Chapman and Hall, and according to the author's foreword, it was inspired by Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin and was written to support the abolitionist movement in the Unit

An Absence of Ruins was originally published in 1967, a period of decolonising ferment in Jamaica. This important and much sought-after Caribbean classic is now lovingly restored to print, with an introduction by Jeremy Poynting.

Patterson writes in the tradition of Dostoyevsky and Camus, creating a spiritual heir to the unnamed 'I' of Notes from the Underground or La Chute. Through the tangled love life of one Alexander Blackman, Patterson offers up a devastating critique of middle-class pretension, turning instead to the vibrant realities of the Jamaican working class. Full of sardonic humour and social commentary, the novel looks into the dark heart of social hierarchy, colonial education and the impact both have on the individual and the many.

"A very moving book about integrity preserved through an honest appraisal of its apparent loss."
Robert Nye, The Guardian

Orlando Patterson was born in Jamaica in 1940. He is the author of three novels: The Children of Sisyphus (1964, reprinted by Peepal Tree Press, 2011), An Absence of Ruins (1967), and Die the Long Day (1972). He received the National Book Award for Non-Fiction in 1991, and the Order of Distinction from the Government of Jamaica in 1999. He is now Professor of Sociology at Harvard University.

ASTER HAS LITTLE TO OFFER FOLKS in the way of rebuttal when they call her ogre and freak. She's used to the names; she only wishes there was more truth to them. If she were truly a monster, she'd be powerful enough to tear down the walls around her until nothing remains of her world.

Aster lives in the lowdeck slums of the HSS Matilda, a space vessel organized much like the antebellum South. For generations, Matilda has ferried the last of humanity to a mythical Promised Land. On its way, the ship's leaders have imposed harsh moral restrictions and deep indignities on dark-skinned sharecroppers like Aster. Embroiled in a grudge with a brutal overseer, Aster learns there may be a way to improve her lot--if she's willing to sow the seeds of civil war.

A tongue in cheek novel, steeped with raging, raw emotion that is guranteed to raise many eyebrows. This is the exciting story of three divergent personalities with different backgrounds and skin tones. All are lost in the murky fogs of self doubt and insecurity that ruled their lives, shadowing their self-respect, independence and values. NADIA - A victim of abuse and betrayal. A young mother who is afraid to move forward, afraid to let go. HELEN - Brought up to believe that, "Anything darker than a grain of sand is no good." Yet she falls in love with a dark-skinned, dread-locked Rasta she wants to hate. MARJORIE - The eldest, is trapped by routine, low self-esteem and bulima. She is still involved with her re-married ex-husband of eleven years. Unlikely friends, Nadia, Helen and Marjorie, as only real friends can, empower each other to love , trust and explore their passions. Together they stand tall, with the warmth of the sun on their faces. They are strong, proud Jamaican women-Ladies Jamaican.

Written with lyrical fire in a chorus of vividly rendered voices, Dionne Brand's second novel is an epic of the African diaspora across the globe. It begins in 1824 on Trinidad, where Marie-Ursule, queen of a secret slave society called the Sans Peur Regiment, plots a mass suicide. The end of the Sans Peur is also the beginning of a new world, for Marie-Ursule cannot kill her young daughter, Bola -- who escapes to live free and bear a dynasty of descendants who spill out across the Caribbean, North America, and Europe. Haunted by a legacy of passion and oppression, the children of Bola pass through two world wars and into the confusion, estrangement, and violence of the late twentieth century. "[Brand has] a lush and exuberant style that may put some readers in mind of Toni Morrison or Edwidge Danticat." -- William Ferguson, The New York Times Book Review; "A delicately structured, beautifully written novel infused with rare emotional clarity." -Julie Wheelwright, The Independent (London); "Rich, elegiac, almost biblical in its rhythms . . . One of the essential works of our times." -- The Globe & Mail (Toronto)
In 1824 on the island of Trinidad, Marie Ursule, queen of a secret society of militant slaves called the Sans Peur Regiment, plots a mass suicide, a quietly brazen act of revolt. The end of the Sans Peur is also the beginning of a new world, for Marie Ursule cannot kill her young daughter, Bola, who escapes to live free and bear a dynasty of descendants who spill out across the Caribbean, North America, and Europe. Haunted by a legacy of passion and oppression, the children of Bola pass through two world wars and into the confusion, estrangement, and violence of the late twentieth century. There is Samuel, the soldier who goes to war to defend Mother England and returns with a broken spirit; Cordelia, a woman who has spent her life suppressing the fiery desire that finally catches her, unabated, in her fiftieth year; Priest, the "badjohn" who leaves the islands for a gangster life ranging from Miami to Brooklyn; and Adrian, who ends up a junkie on the streets of Amsterdam. And still in Trinidad there is the second Bola, who lives alone in the family home, wandering among the dead and waiting for the generations of her ancestors to join her.

Sex and Scandal climax in the heat of Jamaica's Carnival. Following his success with Tough Girls Don't Dance, Osmund James hits us with a novel of fun-filled sex and romance set against the backdrop of Jamaica's carnival. This captivating book lays bare the morals of a class-filled Jamaican society, where to be a 'browning' is the ambition of many females and where sex and drugs are the currency of choice for whole sections of the society. Surprisingly for such an environment, there still remains hope of true love winning through as Dave, the possessor of a 'well-built golden brown body', woos and wins Jenny, 'the ebony black lady of his'. Fighting the social stigma of being born in Jones Town, Jenny escapes the clutches of Harry and Don T to revel in a love of unending ecstasy, amidst a sea of 'uptown' envy, greed and religious fervour. A cast of characters whose trails cross in a crescendo of carnival bacchanalia.