Top 10 Must-Read Books by Caribbean Authors in 2023
Books can offer comfort in a time that is still characterized by uncertainty, and provide answers to our most pressing issues. The abundance of excellent books by Caribbean authors has given us a solace escape.
Read award-winning works, be introduced to some exceptional first-time authors and indulge in fantastic stories. Here are the Top 10 Must-Read Books by Caribbean Authors in 2023
Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022, this novel portrays a compelling message of feminism with a captivating plot that touches the audience. Set against the backdrop of a vivacious national festival, the novel addresses issues of racism and gender abuse and piercingly deconstructs an abusive love relationship.
‘An extraordinary and emotionally immersive novel – the music of Lisa Allen-Agostini’s writing voice is gloriously specific to Trinidad, yet this heart-wrenching story of a woman both liberated and in need of liberation has universal resonance.’— Margaret Busby.
Cherie Jones’ first book, set in Barbados, examines issues of class, misogyny, and violence.
‘Rare is the first book that reveals the writer fully formed, the muscles and sinews of her sentences firm and taut, the voice distinctly her own.’ – The Washington Post.
Pleasantview by Celeste Mohammed has racked up numerous awards this year including the 2022 CLMP Firecracker Award for Fiction and the 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.
Mohammed portrays her ideas, set in a fictional Trinidadian village, through short stories that connect to form a single novel or story. The book combines English and Trinidad Creole, and explores the negative aspects of the Caribbean dream. With powerful and detailed descriptions that leave nothing to the imagination, the author guides us through this imaginary hamlet in Trinidad that closely resembles actual life. Through the course of the book, she examines many cultures and groups of people, and the various aspects that emerge from that are fascinating.
Things I Have Withheld, by Jamaican poet and novelist Miller, is a captivating novel that invites the audience to examine themselves based on their behaviors, coping strategies, imaginations, and interactions.
Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing 2022 and the Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour 2022, this novel provides a challenging depiction and examination of prejudice and discrimination based on class, gender, race, and queerness.
“A stellar debut . . . about an unconventional family, fear, hatred, violence, chasing love, losing it and finding it again just when we need it most.”—The New York Times Book.
Winner of the Costa Book Award and named One of the Best Books of the Summer by Time, The Guardian and Women’s Day, Love After Love explores relationships in an emotional symphony about love, loss, guilt, deception and the consequences of choices we make that breaks bonds. The book is fascinating and written compelling Trinidadian prose.
Award-winning author Nicole Dennis-Benn paints a richly nuanced depiction of parenthood, immigration, and the sacrifices we make for those we love. Patsy, who leaves her little daughter behind in Jamaica to join her oldest friend Cicely to New York, is introduced to us as a remarkable woman.
This novel was regarded as the Best Books of 2019 by The Washington Post , O- The Oprah Magazine, Time, NPR, People and Buzzfeed.
Magic is revealed at every turn of a page with an alluring plot of a mythological sea creature/woman and a lonely fisherman who falls in love with her. This fantasy is brought to life with lyrical patois and grandiloquent writing.
It’s engrossing and astounding and a recipient of the Costa Book Of The Year Award.
“[Roffey is] changing the face of Caribbean literature. . . . [The Mermaid of Black Conch] joins an impressive wave of recent books by Trinidadian women writers . . . which are helping redefine a literature once dominated by noisy men.”—Anderson Tepper, Los Angeles Times
Donna Hemans, a best selling author from Jamaica, writes a riveting and poignant novel about a young mother who embarks on a search for the man who abducted their infant daughter immediately after her birth; her child’s father.
Claire Adam’s debut novel, set in her home Trinidad and Tobago, is a worthwhile read that critiques motherhood and parenting. Golden Child is an intriguing thriller about a bizarre disappearance blended with a family drama about twins and parenthood.
‘This debut novel about a missing twin in rural Trinidad is a sensitive depiction of family life with the page-flicking urgency of a thriller.’ – The Guardian
After Eleanor Bennett passes away, her estranged children Byron and Benny, are perplexed after inheriting a black cake made from a family recipe and a voice recording. Eleanor recalls a chaotic and terrifying event.
Author:
Fr. Peter Hill
Fr. Peter Hill, C.Ss.R., is a Roman Catholic Priest from the nature island of the Caribbean, Dominica. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy from St. John’s University, NY, an M.Div. from the Washington Theological Union, and a Doctoral degree in Preaching from the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, MO. Fr. Peter has a passion for preaching the Word of God and travels extensively preaching retreats. He lived and ministered on the islands of Dominica, St. Croix, Trinidad and Tobago, and St. Lucia. He is currently on assignment at the Redemptorist Formation Residence in San Antonio, Texas.
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