A madman’s rant
Of the 20 or so books that I’ve looked at in this column, not one, I realise, is comic. Rather the opposite, in fact, as most have dealt...
Walter Tull — over the line | On this day
A century ago, as the First World War drew to a close, a Barbadian-British man named Walter Tull was killed on the battlefield. He was one of many thousands dead in the “Flanders clay,” but also unique: as James Ferguson writes, Lieutenant Tull was the first officer of colour ever appointed in the British Army, in defiance of race prejudice
The Orchid House — end of an era
In 1953, a novel entitled The Orchid House was published by the reputable firm of Constable in London. It was a modest success, received...
Memories of Martinique
On board the mail ship that docked at the picturesque harbour of St Pierre, Martinique, one July morning in 1887, was a strange-looking man...
Happy Day in Haiti — the Duvaliers remembered
The history of Haiti contains few happy anniversaries. The events that have marked the country and made international news have almost...
Bill Morris: a social conscience
Outside all is chaos and crisis, or so it seems. A one-hour train journey now takes two hours. Global warming is hotting up and it is the...
A New World Odyssey
The decisions of the learned people who hand out the Nobel Prize for Literature can sometimes be slightly mystifying. But in 1992, they...
Slavery revisited
It takes a brave writer these days to approach the subject of slavery in the Caribbean. Look at the many novels published by contemporary...
