Keeper of the Sapodilla

Fictional biography, mainly set in the Caribbean, recounting the protagonist's life in Trinidad from early childhood commencing after independence from the British. Literary fiction exploring the human condition in which the life of the main character, Natasha, generally mirrors that of a young, independent nation in its search for identity in a world finally free from colonial domination. At a personal level, Natasha likewise struggles for her own identity and for freedom from the crippling influences of family and society suffering from the ailments of the time when the meaning of education, human rights and children's rights meant very little. The novel is in many respects a social document recounting through fictional episodes what growing up in a large family in an agricultural village in the mid-1960's and early 1970's might have been like. It highlights in some respects the culture, folklore, politics, religious and social influences including to some extent, race relations in the plural society of Trinidad in the early decades following independence. Minor settings were also constructed in Barbados, England, Guyana and Canada to influence and support the protagonist’s coming of age as she moves from childhood to womanhood in furtherance but never in completion of her human quest for knowledge and self knowledge. Read more