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Political corruption, lust, and betrayal poison a Caribbean island paradise.
Deeply engrossing and beautifully written, this debut novel marks the stunning arrival of a major new talent. Set on a fictional Caribbean island, Flickering Shadows is the story of the colorful and compelling inhabitants of a small ex-colony, a village called the Hill. Cephus’s grandfather—arguably one of the most intriguing narrators to appear in fiction in some time—draws the reader into the lives and vivid dramas of the whole community. Cephus, Doreen, Boysie, Inez, young Kwame, the ghost, Dolphus, and an array of vibrantly depicted characters form a rich and hypnotic tale of love and betrayal, selflessness and honor, lust and dignity. Played out against a backdrop of political chicanery and religious corruption, this entrancing novel captivates from its first sentence to its breathtaking and unforgettable conclusion.
Deeply engrossing and beautifully written, this debut novel marks the stunning arrival of a major new talent. Set on a fictional Caribbean island, Flickering Shadows is the story of the colorful and compelling inhabitants of a small ex-colony, a village called the Hill. Cephus’s grandfather—arguably one of the most intriguing narrators to appear in fiction in some time—draws the reader into the lives and vivid dramas of the whole community. Cephus, Doreen, Boysie, Inez, young Kwame, the ghost, Dolphus, and an array of vibrantly depicted characters form a rich and hypnotic tale of love and betrayal, selflessness and honor, lust and dignity. Played out against a backdrop of political chicanery and religious corruption, this entrancing novel captivates from its first sentence to its breathtaking and unforgettable conclusion.
Price: $21.95
Pages: 304
Publisher: Coffee House Press
Imprint: Coffee House Press
Publication Date:
01 September 1996
Trim Size: 9.30 X 6.30 in
ISBN: 9781566890496
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
“People have been asking for some time now: where are the Bajan griot voices to succeed George Lamming, Paule Marshall, Austin Clark? Well, look in vain no further. Here, fresh & young in the spirit-fields of that nearest-to-Africa Caribbean island, is my namesake Kwadwi Agymah Kamau’s first novel, Flickering Shadows, continuing the great coral/choral-calling tradition of Barbados.” —Kamau Brathwaite, Savacou Publications
“Flickering Shadows is a gem, a work of pure enchantment. To read it is to fall under an island spell. Tragic yet uplifting, this is fiction at its best.” —Lee Smith, author of Saving Grace
“Kamau is a loving native son/literary ju ju man whose language is sheer poetry nothing less!” —Marita Golden, author of And Do Remember Me
“Agymah Kamau has taken life in a hard-scrabble little West Indian village and, through the power of his vision and his lean poetic prose, made it speak for the oppressed the world over. An impressive debut.” —Paul Marshall, author of Daughters
“A compelling new voice from the Caribbean.” —Daryl Cumber Dance, editor, Folklore from Contemporary Jamaicans & Fifty Caribbean Writers
“Flickering Shadows is a gem, a work of pure enchantment. To read it is to fall under an island spell. Tragic yet uplifting, this is fiction at its best.” —Lee Smith, author of Saving Grace
“Kamau is a loving native son/literary ju ju man whose language is sheer poetry nothing less!” —Marita Golden, author of And Do Remember Me
“Agymah Kamau has taken life in a hard-scrabble little West Indian village and, through the power of his vision and his lean poetic prose, made it speak for the oppressed the world over. An impressive debut.” —Paul Marshall, author of Daughters
“A compelling new voice from the Caribbean.” —Daryl Cumber Dance, editor, Folklore from Contemporary Jamaicans & Fifty Caribbean Writers
Kwadwo Agymah Kamau is a novelist, originally from Barbados, who moved to New York in 1977. Flickering Shadows (1996), was a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, Quality Paperback Book Club's New Voices Award, and was listed among the Library Journal's top 20 first novels of 1996. His second novel, Pictures of a Dying Man (1999), was listed among the Village Voice's best 25 books of 1999, won the Commonwealth of Virginia Literary Award, ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Award, was a finalist and received honorable mention for the Gustavus Myers Book Award, and was nominated for the Governor's Award for the Arts in Virginia. He currently teaches creative writing at the University of Oklahoma.