A Love Letter (Booklist) to the Caribbean

I have had the privilege of growing up in a Caribbean household, where frozen sugarcane chunks were a Friday treat in the summers, and the savory aroma of garlic and cilantro hung heavy on the walls of the kitchen. We watched telenovelas for fun, and added condensed milk to sweets instead of regular sugar. We punctuated dinners with percussions and hip sways, and at night our grandmothers would braid our hair while telling us fantastical stories of people “back home.”

It is no wonder that Caribbean authors are a special type of writer, the type with a lilting narrative voice that evokes memories of sitting under the palm shade waiting for the avocado vendor to come past your house. And in the same breath that they recount a story, these authors tell you of the spirit of the ancestors that was present at the time.

It is a magical place, the Caribbean, and it is a magical people that emerge from its shores. But if you have not been bestowed such a cultural honor, to live in a household with these magical, colorful sweet-smelling-and-tasting island people, below is a list of books that can invoke the movement of the palm trees, the crashing of the ocean waves, this stickiness in the air. I dedicate this list to my brethren and sistren in the Bahamas.

George Lamming (Barbados), In the Castle of My Skin

Lamming’s semi-autobiographical novel, set during the riots that led to Bajan independence, is a coming of age story with a peek in to ‘the old ways’ through the eyes of nine-year-old G.

Nicole Dennis-Benn (Jamaica), Patsy

In her sophomore effort, Dennis-Benn (Here Comes the Sun) tells the unique tale of Patsy, an undocumented Jamaican immigrant who chooses herself first in deciding to come to New York, only to find this grass was definitely not greener.

Krystal A. Sital (Trinidad & Tobago), Secrets We Kept: Three Women of Trinidad

This lyrical biography of Sital’s family is the familiar narrative of the immigrant family leaving the wealth and beauty of the Islands, for the struggles of harsh American streets. Except in her story, the author uncovers a brutal secret her mother and grandmother held on to, until their oppressor could no longer harm them.

Patrick Chamoiseau (Martinique), Texaco

Protagonist Marie-Sophie Laborieux shares the collective experience of her community—a shantytown she founded—through a series of small vignettes.

Derek Walcott (St. Lucia), The Bounty

A poetry collection that touches on grief, faith, love, gratitude, and the beauty that is St. Lucia, as well as Walcott’s place in the world.