Five Provocative 21st c. Womanist Books by Caribbean Women Writers

Ostracized from Trinidad and Tobago’s polite society because of a publicized affair with a government minister, Bianca Bridge tries to rebuild her life with a new job working as a magazine editor for make-up artist extraordinaire Obadiah Cortland. As she picks up the pieces, Bianca needs to reconcile her life with her mother’s death, repair her relationship with her estranged father, and address the fallout of the affair that seems to dog her at every turn. This novel holds up an unflinching mirror to Trinidad and Tobagonian society to reveal both its glamor and shortcomings.

In this poetry collection, Shirley twirls language, including Jamaican patois, around her little finger. Her poems exam the physiological and sexual facets of women’s bodies, women’s hurt at the hands of illness and lovers, and the disappointments directed at women when they were children. Shirley casts a gem cutter’s eye on feminist subjects, and the poems in The Merchant of Feathers demonstrate an unfaltering vision.

Set in contemporary Trinidad and Tobago and shortlisted for the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction, The Bread the Devil Kneads plumbs the fallout and generational hurt in central character Alethea Lopez, an ambitious clothing store clerk. Alethea is in a debilitating romantic relationship with an abusive partner and works to extricate herself from it with the help of family and friends. Previous abuses, however, weigh heavily. The novel’s title comes from a Trinbagonian saying “eat de bread dat de devil knead” which refers to someone coping with a long-suffering situation.

The stories in Yanique’s collection focus on the Caribbean diaspora throughout the Americas. They run the gamut of subjects and themes, with a sharp focus on characters experiencing identity crises in locations that are Caribbean because Caribbean people live there. Yanique’s writing wrong-foots readers’ expectations time and again, and her perspective on Caribbean women is thoughtful and true.

Midnight Robber takes place on the planet of Toussaint. The narrative begins with Antonio, the mayor of Cockpit Country, fleeing Toussaint to the grim planet New Half-Way Tree with his young daughter Tan-Tan after he murders his wife’s paramour. The heart of the narrative, however, belongs to Tan-Tan and how she negotiates a new hardscrabble life as she comes of age. The narrative’s fantasy elements, which include carefully imagined creatures that threaten and assist exiled Tan-Tan, as well as imagined but familiar environments, highlight Hopkinson’s creativity in assessing the roles of Caribbean women