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The Interloper

The astonishing stories in The Interloper capture the moment when ambivalence floods the new immigrant''s consciousness. Regret and nostalgia take turns overwhelming and being overwhelmed by rosy expectations, and only drastic measures stave off paralysis and ruin.

Homer in Flight

Hilarious and poignant, Homer in Flight draws a brilliant picture of a chronic malcontent roving from high-rise to housing development along the 401 and the QEW. Homer remains utterly displaced, not because of what other people do or don''t do, but because he lives in his imagination instead of embracing an imperfect but fairly benign reality.

The Book of Ifs and Buts

"For so long I imagined I was making some long journey which would make sense when I had reached the end, but now I realize there are no journeys, just imprints in other people's dusty footsteps." -- from Journey of Angels

Recognized for his first collection of short fiction, The Interloper, with a nomination for the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book, Rabindranath Maharaj displays that distinct talent again in The Book of Ifs and Buts. Part of our new Vintage Tales series, these stories tell the experience of immigrants as they take up new lives, often alone, in strange lands. With passion and a discreet comic sensibility, Maharaj brings poignancy and enduring beauty to lives that
prosper, suffer, endure heartbreak and realize dreams.

The Lagahoo's Apprentice

Trapped in a loveless marriage, Stephen Sagar returns eagerly to his native Trinidad when he is commissioned by a powerful island politician to write his biography. Expecting to discover a lost innocence, Stephen is at once disillusioned - old friends are no longer recognizable and strangers view him with indifference or hostility. To piece together his own past, he explores the lush island landscape and encounters a woman who once loved him. In her need to love again, his own longing begins to awaken and intensify.

Homer in Flight

Hilarious and poignant, Homer in Flight draws a brilliant picture of a chronic malcontent roving from high-rise to housing development along the 401 and the QEW. Homer remains utterly displaced, not because of what other people do or don''t do, but because he lives in his imagination instead of embracing an imperfect but fairly benign reality.

A Perfect Pledge

A Perfect Pledge is at once a beautifully detailed novel about family life, a lively and abundant portrait of Trinidadian society and an ambitious, universal story of striving and strife. Following four decades of tumult - both national and domestic - this third novel by acclaimed author Rabindranath Maharaj is both deeply perceptive and strikingly unsentimental; it is full of singular characters and memorable, often hilarious dialogue. A Perfect Pledge is a major addition both to Canadian literature and to the literature of the Caribbean.

The novel begins with the birth of a child to Narpat and Dulari in the village of Lengua in the late 1950s. Geevan, known universally as Jeeves, is the son that Narpat, an irascible cane farmer, has long wished for to add to his three daughters. But, growing up in his father's shadow, Jeeves develops into a scrawny, quiet, somewhat sickly boy-not helped by Narpat's unusual dietary pronouncements, including his insistence that Jeeves eat properly purgative foods.

On one level, A Perfect Pledge is a compelling story of the intricacies of family life - of the complex relationships between husband and wife, parents and children - set in a lopsided hut with, when the book begins, no electricity or indoor plumbing. Narpat, the patriarch, is an engrossing character, a self-proclaimed "futurist" with no patience for religious "simi-dimi." His ideas to improve his family and his village's lot are sometimes inspired, but sometimes seem crazy; occasionally they fall somewhere in between.

The novel follows the family's progress, from the purchase of a cow named Gangadaye, through the children's schooling, to Narpat's almost solitary efforts to build a factory on his land, interspersed with accidents, weddings, conflict and much more besides. Through these events A Perfect Pledge becomes a subtle portrait not only of Narpat but of the forbearance and irritation of his wife Dulari and their daughters' clashing personalities, often seen through the observant, hungry eyes of the young Jeeves.

But A Perfect Pledge takes up other subjects too. As well as the story of a family's struggles, it is a vivid portrayal of Trinidad over the last four decades - a deprived and sometimes mad place lurching into modernization. Rural life on the island is particularly hard in the 1960s; the infrastructure is ramshackle and always on the cusp of being taken back by nature. But the village of Lengua is a cauldron boiling with village politics, Hollywood movies, neighbourly rivalries, ayurvedic healing and much else. And while it is both panoramic and empathic, A Perfect Pledge is also a deeply pleasurable read: its elegant narrative tone is enriched by the astonishing improvisations of a Trinidadian English infused with Indian, British, American and other influences. Not a page passes without some jaw-dropping turn of phrase, from icy hots to scrapegoats, dreamsanhope to couteyahs.

A Perfect Pledge follows its characters through years of growth, challenges, and in Narpat's case, eventual decline. As he gets older, Narpat stiffens into himself, his plans becoming ever more Quixotic and even dangerous. Jeeves, meanwhile, is trying to step clear of his bad beginnings and become an independent, self-sufficient man, while honouring his family ties (something his sisters conspicuously fail to do). A Perfect Pledge is a funny and moving book that portrays the struggles of an entire society; but the difficult relationship between father and son is ultimately at its heart.


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A Perfect Pledge

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It is 1961 and Trinidad, at once a lush island paradise and a poverty-stricken hole, is inching toward independence. Narpat, a sugar cane farmer, finds himself caught at the crossroads of a changing world. He is a hard-working man of modest means, and is sickened by the corruption and materialism running rampant on the island. He thinks his neighbors are greedy, shiftless, and enslaved to the rumshop. But Narpat is different. He contrasts the helplessness of the islanders with the resourcefulness of his ancient Aryans, and through a series of stringent moral codes and dietary injunctions, sets about to create order within his family and the village. His rules impose a great deal of deprivation on his wife and four children, and his wife must wage her own battle against her husband''s ensuing neglect. Then Narpat decides to single-handedly build a factory to prevent the loss of his livelihood. Narpat''s youngest son Jeeves watches his father''s obsession with the factory, watches his mother''s health decline, and watches as she dies. Unable to prevent his mother''s death, he tries to redeem his father by constantly reminding him of the fables the older man told to his young children. And these fables with their undertones of pledges and duty steel the son for a terrible sacrifice.
In "A Perfect Pledge, "Maharaj combines a Dickensian rendering of the effects of poverty, caste, envy, superstition, corruption and bigotry with vivid, complex characters and gorgeous writing, in a novel that celebrates both the resilience of the human spirit and the heartbreak of failed dreams.