There's something a little bit exotic, a little bit magical about Trinidad. And it's not a place that appears often in fiction, or at least not in fiction that I've read. So I was intrigued by the setting of Lauren Francis-Sharma's debut novel set mainly in Trinidad, capturing life on the island, and filling in little bit of the history and politics of the mid-twentieth century as Trinidad moved towards independence and self-governance. But more than a Trinidadian story, this is a family story, a strong woman story, a mother and children story all told with the unique flavor of the place.

In 1943 in Trinidad, Marcia Garcia is just a teenager raising two small boys she calls her brothers and trying her best to keep food on the table for the three of them. She is a talented seamstress but her family obligations weigh on her and prevent her from being as successful as she might otherwise have been. Marcia is a beautiful mixture of many of the races of people on the islands and she catches the eye of an Indian police officer, Farouk Karam, who becomes enchanted with her to the point that he visits an Obeah woman whose black magic and herbs can guarantee him that he will find his way into Marcia's heart. Although their relationship starts under the cloud of the disappearance of Marcia's twin brothers, they quickly come to find happiness together. Marcia falls pregnant and she and Farouk marry. But his proper, successful family is horrified by Marcia and Farouk denies her and accuses her of actually being the mother of the two missing boys she loved so dearly and having an incestuous relationship with her father. Despite his family's vocal disapproval and these terrible allegations, he cannot quit her so while they remain married, they never do live as husband and wife; Farouk visits only occasionally, enough for them to produce four children, Patsy, Jacqueline, Wesley, and baby Yvonne. Marcia struggles along, working to support her growing family, persevering despite hardships. At the same time, Farouk is rising in the police force, seeing corruption and vice within the ranks, even extending to Marcia's powerful, wealthy, mostly estranged uncle who is high up in government. And when there is a huge scandal, it leaves no one in the family untouched.

The heat and magic of the island is coupled here in the novel with the subsistence and borderline poverty in which Marcia and the children live. Within these pages, there is the Trinidadian version of voodoo, the political corruption of the 1940s through the 1960s, drugs, prejudice, education and the drive to better one's lot, and above all the importance of family. Marcia is strong and a survivor despite the terrible hand she's been dealt by life. She, Farouk, and Jacqueline, their second daughter, each narrate portions of the story, sharing their hopes and dreams and the reality of their lives. Much of the dialogue is in a sing-songy dialect but once the reader gets used to it, it is easy enough to follow. When the story takes Marcia to the US, the plot becomes disorienting and a little confusing but that mirrors Marcia's own experience as an immigrant, abused, held captive, and taken advantage of. Trinidad plays a large background role through most of the book but when Marcia finally leaves it, her desire is not for the land of her youth but for her family, for them to join her and to make a new life with her. Francis-Sharma has captured a dysfunctional family in all its ups and downs, the fates that hold it back, and the ways in which each character is always a part of the same fabric even when life doesn't go quite as planned. The story is well written and if there's no happily ever after but instead a concession to reality, it feels true and genuine and possible. ( )

Love and marriage go together like - oil and water? This is a strong examination of a lifelong relationship whose failures due to past family backgrounds make for miserable outcomes for all.

Marcia and Farouk are Trindadians, Farouk a policeman born of
a proud and well-to-do Indian family (there are a large number of Indian families in the Caribbean). Marcia's politically powerful uncle has raped the girls of the family. It's like a thunderclap when they meet. Farouk's family disowns him and he is betrayed by his supervisors and by his eldest daughter's affair with a drug dealer. Marcia, a talented seamstress, is lured to the United States with the promise of well paid work, and ends up leaving her beloved island and her children, with disastrous consequences for all.

The novel is suffused with the everyday Trinidadian routine of food, friends, magic and spells, the ocean and backwoods hamlets. This is the second Caribbean novel I've read this year (the other was Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique) and I am hoping that many more will be forthcoming as we learn of the beauty and hardship that belies the cruise ship façade. ( )

This is a nicely done debut novel about the trials and tribulations of a family from Trinidad. The central thread of the book (pun) is a seamstress and her family throughout the years. It starts when she is a sixteen year old girl raising her younger brothers due to an absentee father. It chronicles her marriage, of sorts, children and eventual move to America and her desire to bring her children to her. This is a sensitive well done book about a families struggle to overcome life's pitfalls. ( )

I received this book from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

This is an incredible novel. Francis-Sharma has a light touch with complex characters, leading the reader gently through two decades in the life of Marcia Garcia. She tells the story in the first person from the perspectives of three different characters in turn, and she does it well. Each character's voice is distinct; even without the section headings telling us it's Marcia or Farouk or Jacqueline speaking, it's apparent whose perspective we're reading.

The details are so rich, I felt like I could feel, smell, and taste both Trinidad and New York City, although I've only been to the latter. Actually, Marcia's confusion and fear upon arriving in New York City felt incredibly realistic to me. I spent my first night in the city afraid to go out just because I found the size and noise of the place too overwhelming. (I did make it out the next day and enjoyed the week I spent there, although I've never felt a desire to return.)

One of the plot twists felt a little unsatisfying (I didn't quite buy it), and another felt almost unnecessary, but aside from those small complaints, I loved this book through and through. It really got me thinking about fate and accountability and the many reasons we might give up the latter and surrender ourselves to the former when the world as it is just stops making sense or when we feel too frightened to take the reins of our own lives.

Beautiful, beautiful book that leaves me feeling like getting out my sewing machine, even though the most complicated thing I'm likely to do with mine is sew some badges on my daughter's Brownie vest. ( )