Sharon Maas

#ReadAroundTheWorld. #Guyana
The Secret Life of Winnie Cox is the first book in the Quint Family trilogy by Guyanese author Sharon Maas. It is set in 1910 in British Guiana (now Guyana).

Winnie Cox and her sister Yoyo are Sugar Princesses, growing up to a life of privilege on their father’s sugar plantation, Promised Land. The plantation runs off the labour of Black house servants and Indian indentured labourers, living in horrific conditions. One day the girls see the awful conditions the workers are living under and their innocence is torn away. Winnie finds herself on a journey as she questions everything she held dear about her father and as she begins falling for Black postman George Quint. The story also shifts back to her mother’s diaries set in the 1880s, and gradually exposes some family secrets and dark truths.

This is a pleasant enjoyable story which gives some insight into life on the plantations, the conditions, colonialism and racial tensions. I did find Winnie’s naivety and stubborn ignorance somewhat annoying and wanted to shake her at times. I think this is the author’s choice to portray her like this however, and she does grow and develop throughout the story. I also struggled to believe Winnie could have lived sixteen years on a plantation with no idea of what went on, but there you go. I found myself wanting to hear more of her mother’s story. 3.5 stars… (meer)

#ReadAroundTheWorld. #Guyana

The second story in the Quint Chronicles series, by Guyanese born author Sharon Maas, this book is set in 1912 in what was then British Guiana.

It continues the story of sugar princesses Winnie and Yoyo Cox. Their father has gone to jail, Winnie is about to marry the love of her life, black postman George Quint, and Yoyo is ambitiously taking over the running of the sugar plantation. Winnie is bravely trying to adjust to life as the only white woman in Albouystown, and her disappointment at not being embraced and accepted. Yoyo’s ambitions also run to producing sons and heirs, but when this fails to happen, she becomes jealous of Winnie and her growing brood, and maliciously attempts to ensnare George. OK so I have to go there: the sex. While I’m glad to see that a woman can be portrayed as the aggressor, and not always the victim, why is it when men err, it’s always blamed on the alcohol (which they willingly consumed) and of course they couldn’t help that their penis just ran away with them?

This story is about love and betrayal, jealousy and bigotry, and how Winnie and George try to face all of this. I love the setting of these books, the historical background, and the insight into the racial tensions of the time. George educates Winnie about the difference between the British treatment of the Blacks and Indians, based purely on a belief in racial superiority, and their reciprocal suspicion towards the English, based more on previous harsh experiences. The thing I found hard about this book was the irritating naivety of Winnie and her gushingly cheerful brand of goodness, in stark contrast to the almost maniacal evil of Yoyo’s selfishness. When I was young I enjoyed these kinds of stories when the differentiation between heroes and the villains was sharply demarcated. Now that I’m older I prefer a little subtly, the more flawed brand of perfection and the more complex and layered villain that is reality.… (meer)

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Take one terrible family secret, add a pinch of tension spanning generations, finish with an immensely valuable family heirloom and... voilà! You now have a truly satisfying read. This is what I found in The Small Fortune of Dorothea Q. I was initially intrigued by the title and the absolutely gorgeous cover (honestly, it's so pretty it is worth picking up this book for the cover alone!), but I was soon captivated by the story and the colourful characters. True, the beginning I found quite slow, and I did have a little trouble following the narration, as it is divided between the three female protagonists (Dorothea, Rika and Inky), and the action in the three different decades. But as I got further into the story, I was completely sucked in and found myself wondering what the big, terrible secret was. And I'm quite pleased to say that, even though I had called a part of it early on and had been right, the author still managed to surprise me with the way she developed it (I know this sounds very cryptic, but it's incredibly hard trying to avoid any spoiler at this point!). I also liked getting snippets of Guyanese history and culture throughout the book, which I thought added an interesting layer to the story.

As I already mentioned, I wasn't too keen on the split narration initially, but it actually ended up being quite a strong point in the book for me as I progressed in the reading. Seeing the events unfold through the eyes of one or the other of the wonderful women in this book made me connect with them on a much deeper level, and actually avoided the terrible 'big-plot-revelation-through-an-incredibly-long-character-speech' pitfall. The character development was also truly well done. I didn't care much for any of the characters in the beginning, since they pretty much all seemed very annoying and/or incredibly bossy. But as the story progressed and I started figuring out all the things that had happened to them, I understood why the characters acted the way they did, and my judgment on them substantially improved. I still didn't care very much for Inky, as I found her just a little too self-centred for my liking, but that's just me being very judgmental about book characters.

Overall, this was a very entertaining read, at times sweet, at times sad. If you like family mysteries mixed with romance and tragedy, I really suggest you check this out.… (meer)