This Body (Macmillan Caribbean Writers) - Softcover

Tessa McWatt

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1405094060 ISBN 13: 9781405094061

Publisher: Macmillan Caribbean, 2007

Synopsis

Victoria fills her North London apartment with the flavours and scents of her childhood in Guyana and her lovers home in Africa. Half a lifetime and half a world away, Victoria still keeps her letters from Kola, the man who schooled her in politics, in food, and in passion. But Kola has disappeared and it is Lenny, her English friend and lover, whom she should hold most dear. But who chooses where love will go? When Victorias sister dies in Guyana, leaving behind a son, Derek, Victoria must assume the role of guardian. At first resentful and overprotective, Victoria finds it difficult to be a mother to a seven-year-old boy while Derek finds Victoria stiff and remote. As the two tentatively negotiate this new and perplexing relationship, violence strikes unexpectedly. Victoria is horrified by the act of terror, but Derek is fascinated, even parlaying the event into higher social status among his school friends. How can two such unlikely companions ever form a lasting bond?

About this title

About the Author:

Tessa McWatt is a novelist, screenwriter, and librettist. She was born in Guyana and grew up in Canada. Her first novel, Out of My Skin, was published in 1998. Her second, Dragon's Cry, followed in 2000, when it was short-listed for the City of Toronto Book Awards and the Governor General Awards of Canada. Victoria her third novel was published in 2004. She has had shorter pieces published in Canadian literary journals, and her performed work was set to music by a contemporary classical composer. She is the writer and producer of a film based on John Berger's novel, To the Wedding. She has taught literature and creative writing at institutions in London as well as in Canada.

Review:

"This Body is about food, fathers and family. Situated in London in the 21st century the story invites the reader to rethink identity in a globalized world, where roots have been replaced by wings for they better symbolize the complex web of relationships that connect us to people and places." Maria van Enckevort, Society for Caribbean Studies Newsletter"

About this edition

• Publisher: Macmillan Caribbean
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1405094060
• ISBN 13: 9781405094061
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336