26/2021. This is a collection of short stories set mostly on a fictional Caribbean island resembling Grenada. The first part is a reprinting of the author's 50 page story Rain Darling, which revolves around child neglect and the adult mental health consequences in a fully realised community setting, and was an innovative and unusually sympathetic perspective on the subject in 1990 when it was first published (and continues to stand out now). The next 100 pages are a set of ten short stories revolving around the life of Doux from girlhood to old age, and her family and communities. These successfully manage to be a bildungsroman, a detour into folktales (told in contemporary legend style), and an honest account of ageing. The language is plain but powerful, as readers would expect from Merle Collins who is known for her poetry. Every word is necessary to the overall effect, especially the occasional repetitions for emphasis, exactly as in the author's poetry. I'll mention that two of the three contemporary legends might not be as effective for readers not familiar with that style of storytelling but they should work for readers unfamiliar with the particular folktales on which they're based (and I personally find stories about sensible Joe from the garage seeing a ghost are much more effective than squamous eldritch whatnots). Oh, and the final line of the book is an absolute winner, but I won't spoil it.

Quote

"Tisane's mother always said, 'Don't wait on nobody to make you happy, especially not no man. (...) Take you happiness outa de general world and don't wait on no one person to make you happy.' " ( )