Happy new year!!!!

To kick off the new year, we’re starting with one of my favourite topics – books!

Below are some of my favourite books by Caribbean authors (both in the region and across the diaspora). I’ve tried to include a mini review too but honestly from when they’ve made it on to this list, you should just take my word for it and read them.

I aim to read more stories by Caribbean authors this year, so look out for a part two of this list later in the year.

Enjoy!

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Synopsis: The story follows Iraya Adair, heir to an overthrown dynasty and Jazmyne Cariot, daughter of the current (self-appointed) doyenne of Aiyca, and their quest to become the next ruler of the country. The two have to find a way to put their differences aside for the sake of bettering their country, whilst also keeping their personal interests at the top of their priorities.

My thoughts: I love fantasy, always have. So finding this duology which combines my favourite genre with my favourite country was always going to be a success for me. Witches Steeped in Gold was so good I read it a second time before starting Empress Crowned in Red. The storytelling was incredible, the character development made perfect sense and the ending left you wanting more without feeling incomplete

Synopsis: Hortense Joseph arrives in London from Jamaica in 1948 with her life in her suitcase, her heart broken, her resolve intact. Her husband, Gilbert Joseph, returns from the war expecting to be received as a hero, but finds his status as a black man in Britain to be second class. His white landlady, Queenie, raised as a farmer’s daughter, befriends Gilbert, and later Hortense, with innocence and courage, until the unexpected arrival of her husband, Bernard, who returns from combat with issues of his own to resolve.

My thoughts: There was something really beautiful about this book. Most of us are aware of the struggles the Windrush generation faced when they came over, the lack of respect given to the West Indian soldiers after fighting for this awful country, the harsh adjustments that had to be made. Andrea managed to capture all of that so well, whilst still keeping the story interesting.

My thoughts:

Synopsis: There, in a lush landscape of fire-petaled immortelle trees and vast plantations of coffee and cocoa, where the three hills along the southern coast act as guardians against hurricanes, Krystal A. Sital grew up idolizing her grandfather, a wealthy Hindu landowner. Years later, to escape crime and economic stagnation on the island, the family resettled in New Jersey, where Krystal’s mother works as a nanny, and the warmth of Trinidad seems a pretty yet distant memory. But when her grandfather lapses into a coma after a fall at home, the women he has terrorized for decades begin to speak, and a brutal past comes to light.

My thoughts: Before considering picking up this book, please beware of the fact that it covers some hard topics.

Unfortunately, domestic violence seems to be deeply ingrained in Caribbean society and so seeing those issues put to paper so openly was pretty incredible. The story told is so important, because often in the region talking about such things in public is heavily frowned upon.

Synopsis: Ma Taffy may be blind but she sees everything. So when her great-nephew Kaia comes home from school in tears, what she senses sends a deep fear running through her. While they wait for his mama to come home from work, Ma Taffy recalls the story of the flying preacherman and a great thing that did not happen. A poor suburban sprawl in the Jamaican heartland, Augustown is a place where many things that should happen don’t, and plenty of things that shouldn’t happen do. For the story of Kaia leads back to another momentous day in Jamaican history, the birth of the Rastafari and the desire for a better life.

My thoughts: Perfect chaos – that’s how I would describe this book. There’s so much going on but at no point did I ever feel confused or lost, and I think that is the sign of a great writer. It’s a mixture of history and fiction perfectly combined to take you on an adventure.

Synopsis: Caribbean folk tales set alongside local reminiscences of 1950s migration from the Caribbean to Britain

Caribbean islands are rich in oral stories. Steeped in history where ancestors arrived as slaves, many stories are of West African origin. Carried to the islands with rhythm and song, stories were blended with European and East Indian folklore.

My thoughts: Growing up, the only non-white folklore I knew of was Anansi the spider-god, and so as a late teenager/adult I started to look into folklore and legends from around Africa and the Caribbean. The beauty of these stories is that there’s many ways to tell them, but the general idea of them are always the same, so this book really helps to provide a foundation for those stories that you may have heard whisperings about. I will absolutely be keeping this book to read to any future children that may enter my life.

Synopsis: The rich and privileged have fled the city, barricaded it behind roadblocks, and left it to crumble. The inner city has had to rediscover old ways-farming, barter, herb lore. But now the monied need a harvest of bodies, and so they prey upon the helpless of the streets. With nowhere to turn, a young woman must open herself to ancient truths, eternal powers, and the tragic mystery surrounding her mother and grandmother.

She must bargain with gods, and give birth to new legends.

My thoughts: I love love love folklore, but when I picked up this book I had no idea it would include any. It was a pleasant surprise seeing some of my favourite folklore pop up throughout in a way that didn’t interrupt the flow of the story.

Synopsis: Earl Lovelace’s Caribbean classic tells the story of Calvary Hill – poverty stricken, pot-holed and garbage-strewn – where the slum shacks ‘leap out of the red dirt and stone, thin like smoke, fragile like kite paper, balancing on their rickety pillars as broomsticks on the edge of a juggler’s nose’. The Dragon Can’t Dance is a remarkable canvas of shanty-town life in which Lovelace’s intimate knowledge of rural Trinidad and the Carnival as a sustaining cultural tradition are brilliantly brought to life.

My thoughts: There are SO many gems in this book! Despite being written in the 70s, it’s still so relevant today. There was a section that spoke about the way carnival has changed, the decline (even then) in traditional mas and they ever-growing crime and discontent in Trinidad. There was a perfect balance of seriousness and comedy, as always with our storytelling.

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Because I’m so kind, here is a short list of titles by Caribbean authors coming out this year:

• For Such a Time as This – Shani Akilah
• How To Say Babylon – Safiya Sinclair (came out in 2023, but minor details)
• No Small Thing – Orlaine McDonald
• One of Our Kind – Nicola Yoon
• Broughtupsy – Christina Cooke
• It Waits in the Forest – Sarah Dass

Until next time,

Ri x