R350.00
In The House in Bacolet, David Lambert follows British couple Hugh and Julia Pennington as they begin a new life in Tobago, buying an old church on a former cocoa plantation. Their growing dependence on the enigmatic Horatio draws them into a relationship shaped by race, class, culture and the unresolved legacy of slavery. Intimate, atmospheric and slow-burning, this debut novel is both a portrait of a marriage under strain and a compelling exploration of how history continues to shape the present.
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Description
In this debut novel from David Lambert, Hugh and Julia want to ‘get involved’ in the life of their adopted island home in Tobago. But they little suspect how much the past horrors of slavery, and their best intentions, will impact their lives.
British couple Hugh and Julia Pennington buy an old church to convert on a former cocoa plantation on a Caribbean island. When their estate agent fails to meet them at the airport, they accept a lift in a large American car from a charismatic local, Horatio. The couple are to become increasingly dependent on Horatio, who ends up moving into their ‘servants’ quarters’ but remains an enigma.
Hugh and Julia want to ‘get involved’ in the life of their adopted island home. But they little suspect how much the past horrors of slavery, and their best intentions, will impact their lives. This tense psychological drama examines the delicate master-servant relationship against a Caribbean island’s colonial background and a still simmering history of slavery.
An intimate portrait of a marriage, the novel also explores the difficulties of human communication and how these are
compounded when race, sex and culture-bound assumptions are added to the mix.
About the author
Born in Trinidad and Tobago to a West Indian father and Irish mother, David Lambert grew up between the Caribbean, Canada and the UK. A polyglot who speaks French, Russian and Spanish, he has lived, worked and travelled across the world as a tour guide in the former USSR, a Russian broadcast monitor for the BBC, and an English teacher in Europe, North Africa and the Gulf. A published writer since 1994 and former creative writing lecturer, he has run writing retreats in south-west France since 2010. He writes novels, plays, poetry and short stories inspired by travel and a lifelong curiosity about people and place. The House in Bacolet is his debut novel.
