Secret Pleasures
With tremendous emotional intensity, Roslyn Carrington has created a dazzling debut in the tradition of Diane McKinney-Whetstone's Tumbling and Dorothy West's The Wedding. A wise, heartfelt, and shattering novel set in the northern foothills of Trinidad, "A Thirst For Rain" evokes the vibrant rhythms of the Caribbean and is seared by the heat that is prelude to both ecstasy and sorrow. It captures the island that isn't seen by tourists -- one where men and women struggle side by side in the cramped, dusty communal yard of a small hillside neighborhood...and where lives inevitably become entangled. There is 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. Through a delicate interweaving of their stories, "A Thirst For Rain" reveals in each one of them the same soul -- deep thirst for love, for wholeness, for a better future that poignantly reflects our own daily struggles and most intimate needs. This powerful novel marks the arrival of an impressive new voice, one that will remain in the reader's memory long after the last page is turned.