A Thirst For Rain - Hardcover

Roslyn Carrington

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1575664461 ISBN 13: 9781575664460

Publisher: Kensington Pub Corp, 1999

Synopsis

In a novel set against the backdrop of the island of Trinidad, a group of men and women struggles to make a living for themselves side by side in the communal yard of a small hillside neighborhood, where lives are fated to become intertwined. A first novel. 25,000 first printing.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

In the foothills of northern Trinidad, during a dry season more intense than any in memory, men and women struggle side by side in the cramped communal yard of a hillside neighborhood...

Myra, a proud, sensuous, hardworking woman who finds blessed release in her own restless desires; Odile, Myra's defiant teenage daughter who risks her one chance to escape the family's poverty; Sebastian, Myra's senile father who has begun to follow his fantasies into a world of trouble; Slim, Myra's worthless street vendor boyfriend who spends as much time seducing young women as he does selling cheap trinkets; Jacob, the once-famous West Indian stickfighter who thought the hero in him was long dead, until he meets Myra. And Rory, the boy next door whose desperate need for Odile's love may destroy everything before the rains come.

Filled with tremendous emotional intensity, A THIRST FOR RAIN marks the arrival of an impressive new voice, one that will remain in the reader's memory long after the last page is turned.

From Publishers Weekly:

Set in the author's native Trinidad and unfolding over the course of the worst dry season in years, this heartfelt debut swells with a host of fevered entanglements. A house divided into residences for four families, with a communal courtyard, functions as the stage for encounters between six prototypically Caribbean characters. Independent and sensual Myra is a dockside foodseller and single mother to Odile, a responsible teenage girl who excels at her studies. Myra's father, Sebastian, is the town madman, strolling the streets with a pram full of trinkets. Then there is Rory, an angst-ridden young man who harbors a crush on Odile, and Slim, Myra's slick, no-good lover. When Myra finds out she is carrying Slim's child, she refuses the abortion he demands. Meanwhile, Jacob, once a champion stickfighter and now a humble cobbler with a crippled left leg, yearns to reach out to Myra, but fears rejection. A tender love develops slowly between them, but meanwhile Odile is suffering through her own unanticipated pregnancy, abandoning school and spending her days brooding at a nearby river. Rory follows her surreptitiously until one night, as the drought-stricken village is finally doused with torrential rains, his hidden love is transformed into violent, tragic passion. On occasion Carrington's similes miss their mark ("Her eyes were like fried eggs"; "She was smiling like a banana") and her rendition of island patois is uneven. But short chapters move the narrative briskly, and the intense evocation of island life makes this a worthy addition to Caribbean fiction collections. However, North American readers may find the female characters frustratingly Faulknerian in their fatalistic attitudes toward their romantic lives. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Kensington Pub Corp
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1575664461
• ISBN 13: 9781575664460
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 200