Novel
Under the Silk Cotton Tree
Jean Buffong · 1992
Synopsis
Sitting under the silk cotton tree, Flora tells of life in the Grenadian village where she grew up: families and friends, strange neighbours and odd events, the jumbie hidden in the tamarind trees and the mermaid on her rock, the dramas and the joys. Her family's ties with Trinidad show how much the islands communicate with one another and how heavily emigration weighs on daily life. On the island, rumours travel faster than African drums.
Context
Published in London in 1992 by The Women's Press, the novel was reissued the following year in New York by Interlink, in its Emerging Voices series, which aims to make writers acclaimed at home known to North American readers. It follows the two Grenadian narratives that the author had published in 1990 with Nellie Payne, with the same London publisher, and precedes a second novel published in 1995. The author read her texts in public in London, for the 1993 International Women's Week.
Who it is for
A short novel, of about one hundred and forty pages, in English, made up of childhood stories set in a village.
Prizes and reception
Its American publisher presented it as a great step forward in the career of a talented writer.
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