A Thirst for Rain Author:Roslyn Carrington On weekends Myra stayed late in town selling her steaming portions of corn soup, barley soup, hot accra and float, peppery black pudding, and homemade fruit juices and candies. Passers-by, from boys who weren't old enough to know better to men who were but didn't, often turned their heads sharply at the sight of this beautiful woma... more »n who sat there listening to the music with her eyes closed and a beer clasped to her bosom.
With tremendous emotional intensity, Roslyn Carrington has created a dazzling debut novel that evokes the vibrant rhythms of the Caribbean and is seared by a heat that is a prelude to both ecstasy and sorrow. Set in the northern foothills of Trinidad during a dry season more intense than any in memory, A THIRST FOR RAIN 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.
Roslyn Carrington's deeply-textured language flares with a light that throws her characters into sharp relief, etching their lives with words and helping us see in them the passions, fears, and dreams that remind us of ourselves. 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. It is a wise, heartfelt and shattering novel that marks the arrival of an impressive new voice and will remain in the reader's memory long after the last page is turned.« less