June is Caribbean-American Heritage Month and many people are using this month to read books written by authors hailing from the Caribbean and sharing using #CaribbeanRead and #ReadCaribbean. My favorite thing about this month is discvering so many new-to-me Caribbean authors to add to my reading list – and to share some of my favorite books with you.
Jamaica Road, Lisa Smith
South London, 1981: Daphne is the only Black girl in her class. All she wants is to keep her head down, preferably in a book. The easiest way to survive is to go unnoticed. Daphne’s attempts at invisibility are upended when Connie Small arrives from Jamaica. Connie is the opposite of small in every lanky, outgoing, and unapologetically himself. Daphne tries to keep her distance, but Connie is magnetic, and they form an intense bond. As they navigate growing up in a volatile, rapidly changing city, their families become close, and their friendship begins to shift into something more complicated.
I don’t tend to like books about teenagers – they are usually so cliche – angst, rebellious, don’t listen, absent parents in the story … this book is NOT that and I loved it up. Jamaica Road the story of 2 teenagers who meet in high school in South London. They are both minorities, both Jamaican – although 1 is British born and the other is newly arrived. Their stories intertwine and twist, separate, come back together. It’s told with so much heart but also has complex themes as part of their stories – immigration, legal and otherwise, racism, the sense of pride and place in South London, and in being Jamaican.
Golden Child, Claire Adam
Rural Trinidad: a brick house on stilts surrounded by bush; a family, quietly surviving, just trying to live a decent life. Clyde, the father, works long, exhausting shifts at the petroleum plant in southern Trinidad; Joy, his wife, looks after the home. Their two sons, thirteen years old, wake early every morning to travel to the capital, Port of Spain, for school. They are twins but nothing alike: Paul has always been considered odd, while Peter is widely believed to be a genius, destined for greatness. When Paul goes walking in the bush one afternoon and doesn’t come home, Clyde is forced to go looking for him, this child who has caused him endless trouble already, and who he has never really understood. And as the hours turn to days, and Clyde begins to understand Paul’s fate, his world shatters–leaving him faced with a decision no parent should ever have to make.
This book crept up on me in such a good, emotional way. I didn’t know much about it going in other than it was set in Trinidad, and about a boy who goes missing. At first his father thinks he’s at a party. We then get flashbacks from different perspectives of the life of the parents, their extended family and the twin boys – the one who goes missing (Paul), and his brother, Peter, who is considered gifted. I don’t want to say too much more because the slow unraveling of the story is done in the most beautifully written way. But Golden Child is such an emotional read, and at times heartbreaking. The author does a fantastic job of capturing the essence of the family’s life in Trinidad, as well as all the main characters. The book is rich in detail, but done in such a way that it just flows with the story. But it’s also a bit sad, and there is one scene in particular where I had to stop and take a break. There is also a huge “dilemma” in the book and a choice to be made -> I did not think it was going to go the way it went. And just … woah … and also, my heart ached.
The God of Good Looks, Breanne Mc Ivor
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, realizing that working on his magazine is the closest to her dreams she’ll get. As Bianca begins to embrace her power and creative voice, she starts to suspect Obadiah is not the elite tyrant he seems. She’s right. Born in one of the poorest parts of Trinidad, Obadiah has clawed partway up society’s ladder and built his company around his meticulously crafted persona. Now, he’s not about to let anyone, especially Bianca, see past his façade.
First off, I think the audiobook is the way to go with this one. The narration by Varia Williams and Alexis Rodney was just brilliantly done. They just became the characters for me, especially the authentic Trinidadian accent, and immersed me completely in the story. The characters really stand out, and for me was one of the best parts of the book. This is a world of beauty standards, class and culture. It’s also one about vulnerability, appearances and friendship. The God of Good Looks is set in Trinidad, and the author truly gave us a feel for time and place.
People Person, Candice Carty-Williams
Dimple Pennington knew of her half siblings, but she didn’t really know them. Five people who don’t have anything in common except for faint memories of being driven through Brixton in their dad’s gold jeep, and some pretty complex abandonment issues. Dimple has bigger things to think about. She’s thirty, and her life isn’t really going anywhere. An aspiring lifestyle influencer with a terrible and wayward boyfriend, Dimple’s life has shrunk to the size of a phone screen. And despite a small but loyal following, she’s never felt more alone in her life. That is, until a dramatic event brings her half siblings Nikisha, Danny, Lizzie and Prynce crashing back into her life. And when they’re all forced to reconnect with Cyril Pennington, the absent father they never really knew, things get even more complicated.
Candice Carty-Williams knows how to do characters! First she wrote Queenie, which I loved hard, and now we have a novel about 5 half-siblings (well 2 of them share the same mom but are years apart) with the same dad (Jamiacan) who is a deadbeat and a womanizer. The siblings live around the same area in London and know of each other, but they don’t interact until one of them gets in trouble and calls for help. People Person is about ‘complicated’ relationships and identity – again, something the author writes about well. It is a novel I flew through and really enjoyed.
Black Cake, Charmaine Wilkerson
Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes herJamican island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage and themselves.
Black Cake is a complex family drama and is so well done, as the author takesus through a history of a family, their secrets, loves, secret hopes and tough decisions. It’s told from multiple points of view, and each provides a unique perspective. I also really enjoyed the tv series.
Caribbean literature is rich and varied, and #CaribbeanReads and #ReadCaribbean is a great place to find your next read and see what others are recommending. Also check out these previously shared 4 Fiction Books to Read for Caribbean Heritage Month.
