Little River

Description

Former children’s author Velma McClymont makes her long-awaited comeback with this tale of a Highlander who goes to Jamaica to make ‘a West India fortune’. Spanning from the Highlands of Scotland to Jamaica and West Africa, the narrative straddles three continents and bridges several cultures in this historical novel. Set against a backdrop of wars, uprisings, hurricanes, private longings and public humiliation, Little River entwines the lives of the Scotsman Duncan Hutchinson (later Foulkes), his white workers, his son Christopher, and the enslaved Africans whose free labour enables Duncan to achieve his dream of owning a prosperous sugar plantation. In this compelling tale of exploitation, racial oppression and the greatest ‘human rights violations’ that still haunt the masses of the Jamaican people (over 90% black), it is Duncan’s ruthless right-hand man Ezekiel Darnley whose resentful mixed-race sons bring the novel to its shattering conclusion.