Mohun Biswas has spent his 46 years of life striving for independence. Shuttled from one residence to another after the drowning of his father, he yearns for a place he can call home. He marries into the Tulsi family, on whom he becomes dependent, but rebels and takes on a succession of occupations in a struggle to weaken their hold over him.

A House for Mr Biswas

History of the People of Trinidad & Tobago

"This is an energetic, very unusual, above all, enlightening novel;the author's best yet."

 - The Financial TimesA powerful and moving chronicle of the different ways in which members of a small Trinidadian community, Bonasse, hold on to their identity as they find themselves caught up in change and corruption. Bolo is a champion stick fighter, tall, good looking, and the fastest, strongest, and bravest of al the young men in Bonasse. When time and time again he sees his people humiliated by American troops, his instincts as a leader prevail. But the stand he makes takes on bizarre and tragic forms. Introduction by Marjorie Thorpe. 

The Wine of Astonishment

Carnival takes on social and political importance in this recognized classic. The people of the shantytown Calvary Hill, usually invisible to the rest of society, join the throng and flaunt their neighborhood personas in masquerade during Carnival. Aldrick, the dashing "king of the Hill," becomes a glorious, dancing dragon; his lovely Sylvia, a princess; Fisheye, rebel idealist, a fierce steel band contestant; and Philo, Calypso songwriter, a star. Then a business sponsors Fisheye's band, Philo gets a hit song, and Sylvia leaves the Hill with a prosperous older man. For Aldrick, it will take one more masquerade—this time, involving guns and hostages—before the illusion of power becomes reality.

The Dragon Can't Dance

“This book made me catch my breath. It made me shake my head and sigh. The characters barb and the language sings.”
						Tiphanie Yanique


A pathologist is asked to lie about a boy killed on government orders; a sister tries to make peace with the parents of the white American girl her brother has murdered; a gangster makes his posthumous lament: Trinidad in all its social tumult is ever present in these stories, but so too are the lives of those with private griefs: a woman mourning the still-birth of her baby; a young mother with cancer facing her mortality. Millar’s characters come intensely alive at points of crisis, of existential threat.
The stories in this collection range wide: across different ethnic communities; across rural and urban settings; across the moneyed elite (and illicit new wealth) and the poor scrabbling for survival; locals and expatriates; the certainties of rational knowledge and the mysteries of the unseen and the uncanny. Different locations in Trinidad are brought to the reader through a precise and sensuous mapping of the country’s fauna and flora.
Characters thread their way through different stories, but what ties the collection together is Sharon Millar’s distinctively personal voice: cool, unsentimental and empathetic. If irony is the only way to inscribe contemporary Trinidad, there is also room for the possibility of redemption.

The Whale house and other stories

A beautifully written, unforgettable novel of a troubled marriage, set against the lush landscape and political turmoil of Trinidad

Monique Roffey's Orange Prize-shortlisted novel is a gripping portrait of postcolonialism that stands among great works by Caribbean writers like Jamaica Kincaid and Andrea Levy. 

When George and Sabine Harwood arrive in Trinidad from England, George is immediately seduced by the beguiling island, while Sabine feels isolated, heat-fatigued, and ill-at-ease. As they adapt to new circumstances, their marriage endures for better or worse, despite growing political unrest and racial tensions that affect their daily lives. But when George finds a cache of letters that Sabine has hidden from him, the discovery sets off a devastating series of consequences as other secrets begin to emerge.

The White Woman on the Green Bicycle

A revealing novel of childhood about Tee who is being made socially acceptable by her Aunt Beatrice so that she can cope with the caste system of Trinidad.

Crick Crack, Monkey

The year is 1954. A white woman’s body, stuffed in a coconut bag, has washed ashore in Otatiti, Trinidad, and the British colony is rife with rumors. In two homes, one in a distant shantytown, the other on the outskirts of a former sugar cane estate, two women hear the news and their blood runs cold. Rosa, the white daughter of a landowner, and Zuela, the adopted “daughter” of a Chinese shop owner used to play together as girls—and witnessed something terrible behind a hibiscus bush many years ago.

Bruised Hibiscus

"A stranger could drive through Miguel Street and just say 'Slum!' because he could see no more." But to its residents this derelict corner of Trinidad's capital is a complete world, where everybody is quite different from everybody else. There's Popo the carpenter, who neglects his livelihood to build "the thing without a name." There's Man-man, who goes from running for public office to staging his own crucifixion, and the dreaded Big Foot, the bully with glass tear ducts. There's the lovely Mrs. Hereira, in thrall to her monstrous husband. In this tender, funny early novel, V. S. Naipaul renders their lives (and the legends their neighbors construct around them) with Dickensian verve and Chekhovian compassion.
Set during World War II and narrated by an unnamed-but precociously observant-neighborhood boy,  Miguel Street is a work of mercurial mood shifts, by turns sweetly melancholy and anarchically funny. It overflows with life on every page.

Miguel Street

In the town of Cascadu, Trinidad, the 1970 Black Power rebellion has failed. Sonnyboy, hapless and luckless, is desperate to be recognised as part of the rebellion and forces the uninterested police to arrest him. KingKala, a singer, returns from detention and is sidelined in the calypso tent, his music dated and unfashionable. They now hope to make their name in the movie that is being shot on the island - but that too does not end as expected.

And so we follow the townsfolk through their experiments in music, politics, religion and love; as, in their day-to-day adventures - be it a game of cricket, the short life of a corner shop or a miracle at a funeral - they begin to see more clearly what their community has to offer for its liberation.

Sad and uplifting, humorous but never mocking, "Is Just a Movie" is a warm, gentle novel about small moments of magic in ordinary life.

Is Just a Movie

Indira Gabriel, recently abandoned by her lover, Solomon, embarks on a project to reinvigorate a dilapidated bar into something special. In this warm, funny, sexy, and bittersweet novel, Barbara Jenkins draws together a richly-drawn cast of characters, like a Trinidadian Cheers. Meet Bostic, Solomon’s boyhood friend, who is determined to keep the bar as a shrine; I Cynthia, the tale-telling Belmont maco; KarlLee, the painter with a very complicated love-life; fatherless Jah-Son; and Fritzie, single mum and Indira’s loyal right-hand woman. 

 At the book’s center is the unforgettable Indira, with her ebullience and sadness, her sharpness and honesty, obsession with the daily horoscope and addiction to increasingly absurd self-help books. In this warm, funny, sexy, and bittersweet novel, Barbara Jenkins hears, like Sam Selvon, the melancholy behind “the kiff-kiff laughter,” as darkness from Indira’s past threatens her drive to make a new beginning.

De Rightest Place

At ten, Melody Sparks, better known as Baby Girl, is excited to move to the tropical island of Trinidad with her single-parent dad, but she silently longs for her mother, a woman she can't recall ever meeting and doesn't have a photo of. She fits in to her new life in Paradise Lane quite well: she loves her school and makes new friends. However, her longing for blood family remains strong. But Baby Girl is suddenly and unexpectedly uprooted from her comfortable life in Paradise Lane by and forced to reside in Flat Hill Village, a depressed, crime-ridden community. She struggles to adjust to life in this village with the help of new friends, Arlie, a village activist and Colm, a young man who mentors her to write poetry. When Baby Girl witnesses a serious crime, her father insists she move in with relatives she doesn't know very well, where she ultimately uncovers the truth about her mother. "Under the Zaboca Tree" is a contemporary coming of age novel that explores multiple issues including the challenges of being a motherless adolescent, searching for one's identity, the unbreakable bonds of family, and the ability to adapt to difficult situations.

Under the Zaboca Tree

In "Erotic Islands", Lyndon K. Gill maps a long queer presence at a crossroads of the Caribbean. This transdisciplinary book foregrounds the queer histories of Carnival, calypso, and HIV/AIDS in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. At its heart is an extension of Audre Lorde's use of the erotic as theory and methodology. Gill turns to lesbian/gay artistry and activism to insist on eros as an intertwined political-sensual-spiritual lens through which to see self and society more clearly. This analysis juxtaposes revered musician Calypso Rose, renowned mas man Peter Minshall, and resilient HIV/AIDS organization Friends For Life. "Erotic Islands" traverses black studies, queer studies, and anthropology toward an emergent black queer diaspora studies.

Erotic Islands: Art and Activism in the Queer Caribbean

"We must remember... and we must remember everything." - Gerard BessonThe Book of Trinidad, a perennial favourite with Trinidadians all over the world, is an eclectic mix of travelogues, recipes, newspaper reports, official records, the seminal work of historians and, perhaps more importantly, the oral traditions of the very old whose memories link back to the turn of the century. Fully illustrated with rare pictures from a wide range of sources, The Book of Trinidad has sold thousands of copies since its first publication in 1986.The history of beautiful Trinidad is a relatively short but multi-faceted one in comparison to its neighbouring islands in the Caribbean. The Book of Trinidad travels through centuries of Trinidad's life, exposing an experience in which the changing of seasons was the only constant in an otherwise timeless world.The remarkable thing in the development of Trinidad has been the make-up of its population. Literally, people from all over the world found a home in the island by virtue of their Catholicism or other considerations. Truly antique strains, such as the Rada from West Africa and Maronite Christians from the Ottoman Empire, Brahmins from India, French aristocrats, Corsican revolutionaries, Portuguese converted to Protestanism from Madeira, Chinese peasants, liberated Africans, and Shiite Muslims who have continued to the present to celebrate Muharrum (Hosay) were all poured into the mould of British colonialism and stamped by the prejudices of the time. Writers Bridget Brereton and Gerard Besson bring together the people of Trinidad by commemorating the memory of shared experiences among this plethora of cultures in the development of our beloved country.Brereton and Besson's collaboration in The Book of Trinidad draws together the collective experience of the nation's people to put together the colourful mosaic that is, in truth, our national patrimony.Bridget Brereton was a Professor of History and the Head of the History department at the University of the West Indies' St. Augustine campus. She has served on several occasions as the Principal of the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad.Gerard A. Besson is a publisher, writer and historian. He is the founder of Paria Publishing, a company that has produced around 100 titles in the field of history and folklore. In 2007, he was the recipient of the Hummingbird Medal (Gold) for Heritage Preservation and Promotion.

The Book of Trinidad

"When the author, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, was a lad, his country was a British crown colony, and its government offered one university scholarship a year to the entire population. Young Williams won it, and went off to Oxford to study history and politics. He became an authority on West Indian history and, back home, founded the People's National Movement Party, which has repeatedly returned him to office. Mr. Williams' education has endowed him with a lucid style and, despite his dedication to his homeland, a mind that is anything but insular. This account of his efforts to make a new nation closes in 1968; one looks forward to another installment." -- The New Yorker In the meantime, this autobiography has become a classic in African-Caribbean history. This edition features an introduction by Colin Palmer (Princeton University), the author of Passageways: An Interpretive History of Black America.

Inward Hunger: The Education of a Prime Minister

In this book an attempt is made to probe more carefully the processes by which social and ethnic problems, as these pertain to Caribbean countries, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana, are conveyed to the political arena and the mechanisms by which they determine critical outcomes. The authors of this book have accordingly distinguished between predisposing factors and what are described as triggering mechanisms. The factors that trigger dramatic changes will differ between Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. In short, while in some respects these societies are similar, in others, there are dramatic differences in their respective histories and political developments. This study begins with a survey of the literature on race relations and their connections with politics; it then proceeds to examine the context for the insertion of the two major groups into these societies, the emergence of ethnic groups, and their relationships with political organizations. The nature and politics of the leaders are then analyzed along with the political structures with a view to identifying what factors were responsible for the differing political experiences of both countries.

Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana: Race and Politics in Two Plural Societies

The Portuguese of Trinidad and Tobago: portrait of an ethnic minority

In 1845 London, an engineer, philosopher, philanthropist, and bold-faced charlatan, John Adolphus Etzler, has invented machines that he thinks will transform the division of labor and free all men. He forms a collective called the Tropical Emigration Society (TES), and recruits a variety of London citizens to take his machines and his misguided ideas to form a proto-socialist, utopian community in the British colony of Trinidad.

Among his recruits is a young boy (and the book's narrator) named Willy, who falls head-over-heels for the enthralling and wise Marguerite Whitechurch. Coming from the gentry, Marguerite is a world away from Willy's laboring class. As the voyage continues, and their love for one another strengthens, Willy and Marguerite prove themselves to be true socialists, their actions and adventures standing in stark contrast to Etzler's disconnected theories.

Robert Antoni's tragic historical novel, accented with West Indian cadence and captivating humor, provides an unforgettable glimpse into nineteenth-century Trinidad &amp; Tobago.

As Flies to Whatless Boys

This extraordinary book can be read on several levels. Primarily, it is the story of Joseph Jacotot, an exiles French schoolteacher who discovered in 1818 an unconventional teaching method that spread panic throughout the learned community of Europe.

Knowing no Flemish, Jacotot found himself able to teach in French to Flemish students who knew no French; knowledge, Jacotot concluded, was not necessary to teach, nor explication necessary to learn. The results of this unusual experiment in pedagogy led him to announce that all people were equally intelligent. From this postulate, Jacotot devised a philosophy and a method for what he called "intellectual emancipation"—a method that would allow, for instance, illiterate parents to themselves teach their children how to read. The greater part of the book is devoted to a description and analysis of Jacotot's method, its premises, and (perhaps most important) its implications for understanding both the learning process and the emancipation that results when that most subtle of hierarchies, intelligence, is overturned.

The book, as Kristin Ross argues in her introduction, has profound implications for the ongoing debate about education and class in France that has raged since the student riots of 1968, and it affords Rancière an opportunity (albeit indirectly) to attack the influential educational and sociological theories of Pierre Bourdieu (and others) that Rancière sees as perpetuating inequality.



The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in Intellectual Emancipation

This study relates the vicissitudes of the Amerindian peoples who lived or still inhabit the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, from the earliest occupants, ca. 8000 BC, until present. Using archaeological, ethnohistorical and linguistic data, it discusses the social, political, economic, and religious development of indigenous society through the ages. The Amerindian struggle with European colonization is chronicled in detail, following centuries of independent existence during pre-Columbian times, as well as the survival of the current people of indigenous ancestry in the twin-island republic. -This book fills a long-standing gap in the history of Trinidad &amp; Tobago, and the southern Caribbean more generally. It provides a clearly written, authoritative account and analysis of the Amerindians (First Peoples) who lived (and still live) in the two islands, from the very earliest human settlement there up to the present. Based on up-to-the-minute scholarship in several disciplines - archaeology, ethnography, history, linguistics - Boomert dispels many myths and misconceptions about these peoples and carefully traces the complex history of their settlement, in successive waves of migration, in both islands; their interactions with Europeans arriving from 1498; and their -decline- in the post-contact period.- Dr. Bridget Brereton, Emerita Professor in History, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. -This book is a welcome addition to the literature we are now seeking to inform our work here at the Santa Rosa First Peoples Community, as it brings to light important aspects of our buried history. Of particular interest is the information on the involvement of the Dutch in the struggles of the First Peoples, and the connection with Hierreyma, our great Nepuyo Chieftain. It is an inspiration to those of us who are currently engaged in efforts to secure the rightful place of the First Peoples of this land - Kairi.- Ricardo Bharath Hernandez, Chief Santa Rosa First Peoples Community, Arima, Trinidad, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

The Indigenous Peoples of Trinidad and Tobago from the First Settlers Until Today

"Dear reader",

The word "carnivorous," which appears in the title of this book, means "meat-eating," and once you have read such a bloodthirsty word, there is no reason to read any further. This carnivorous volume contains such a distressing story that consuming any of its contents would be far more stomach-turning than even the most imbalanced meal.

To avoid causing discomfort, it would be best if I didn't mention any of the unnerving ingredients of this story, particularly a confusing map, an ambidextrous person, an unruly crowd, a wooden plank, and Chabo the Wolf Baby.

Sadly for me, my time is filled with researching and recording the displeasing and disenchanting lives of the Baudelaire orphans. But your time might be better filled with something more palatable, such as eating your vegetables, or feeding them to someone else.

"With all due respect",
"Lemony Snicket"

The Carnivorous Carnival (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #9)

Trinidadian food is marked by the blending of various cultures. As such, curry, Indian breads, callaloo (a soup of West African origin), and fried rice are all among the national dishes. This book includes these dishes, as well as many others, including Shrimp Creole, Beef Stew with Dumplings, and Ginger Beer.

Sweet Hands: Island Cooking from Trinidad & Tobago

The Longman Caribbean Writers Series comprises of many classic novels, short stories and plays by the best known Caribbean authors, together with works of the highest quality from new writers.

The Jumbie Bird (Longman Caribbean Writers Series)

The author brings to life an unforgettable cast of characters set in a tightly knit Hindu community in Trinidad, against a backdrop of the idiosyncrasies of a particular culture and the sometimes hilarious, sometimes poignant truths about human society. "A compelling, tragic, painfully comic masterpiece." THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT.

The Chip-Chip Gatherers

Vahni Capildeo is known for the experimental edge in her work and her love of collaborating on live performances with fellow poets. In this compelling new collection from the Trinidadian-born poet and Rhodes scholar, her uninhibited style invites us to delve deep between the lines and experience for ourselves the heartaches and emotional challenges that come from separation; both from a testing relationship and one's motherland.

Measures of Expatriation

History of Trinidad and Tobago, Caribbean Islands: Tourism, People, Environment and Government

A visit to Trinidad and Tobago has introduced countless birders to the astonishingly rich South American avifauna. Members of nearly all the families of South American birds can be found in these two beautiful West Indian Islands, where the climate is pleasant and the habitats varied.

This easy-to-use book is the second edition of a comprehensive yet compact field guide to more than 420 species of the islands' birds. First published in 1973, it has been brought up to date and a new color plate and redrawn illustrations have been added. In his introduction, Richard ffrench offers a full treatment of the history of ornithology in Trinidad and Tobago, and then sets the scene by describing the environment of the islands, including physiography, climate, and vegetation. Thirteen photographs depic the variety of habitats found on the islands.

The author also details the destribution of species, their breeding and migration, as well as local conservation and protection measures. Individual species accounts, arranged by family, make up the core of this practical identification guide, covering habtitat and status, range and subspecies, field description and basic measurements, voice, food, nesting, and behavior. They are illustrated by 29 color plates, nine color portraits, and 24 drawings the work of two of the foremost artists in Neotropical ornithology. A comprehensive bibliography lists more than 300 titles from the ornithological literature on birds of the area. This book will be welcomed with enthuasiasm by birders and other naturalists, professional ornithologists, and travelers to the Neotropics."

A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago

I'm so excited! Today I'm flying to Trinidad and Tobago with my dad and sister Remi. On his first visit to the islands where his parents were born, Kamal learns steelpans and listens to calypso, looks round his father's old school, soaks up the sea and the wildlife - and gets a welcome from his grandparents that he'll never forget.

Kamal Goes to Trinidad

A Thirst For Rain

Five young cousins have plenty to do on the island but there's always time to hear one of Tantie's stories. "Six stories, funny, scary, and fanciful -- a delightful mixture of traditional folklore and imagination." -- Booklist, starred review

A Wave in Her Pocket: Stories from Trinidad

What's the Best Trivia Book: Fun Trivia Games with 4,000+ Questions and Answers

Exposing the political and cultural failure to address the challenges of postcolonial Trinidad, this insightful novel portrays a world where the working man must face the crime and violence that is destroying the social body. Walter Castle is dissatisfied with his regular job in the Laventille slum in Port of Spain. As the prospect of promotion is bleak and crime and lawless youth become insupportable, he dreams of going back to the village community he grew up in. Unfortunately, the force of nostalgia is not supported by actual memories and as Walter abandons his dreams he is forced to choose between turning into a drone who passes through life without leaving a mark, or standing up for himself. Originally published in 1965, this story remains surprisingly contemporary with its astringent critique of the top-down authoritarianism of nationalist politics.

Trinidad and Tobago

A House for Mr Biswas

V.S. Naipaul

History of the People of Trinidad & Tobago

Eric Williams

The Wine of Astonishment

Earl Lovelace

The Dragon Can't Dance

Earl Lovelace

The Whale house and other stories

Sharon Millar

The White Woman on the Green Bicycle

Monique Roffey

Crick Crack, Monkey

Merle Hodge

Bruised Hibiscus

Elizabeth Nunez

Miguel Street

V.S. Naipaul

Is Just a Movie

Earl Lovelace

De Rightest Place

Barbara Jenkins

Under the Zaboca Tree

Glynis Guevara

Erotic Islands: Art and Activism in the Queer Caribbean

Lyndon K. Gill

The Book of Trinidad

Gerard Besson

Inward Hunger: The Education of a Prime Minister

Eric Williams

Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana: Race and Politics in Two Plural Societies

Ann Marie Bissessar

The Portuguese of Trinidad and Tobago: portrait of an ethnic minority

Jo-Anne S Ferreira

As Flies to Whatless Boys

Robert Antoni

The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in Intellectual Emancipation

Jacques Rancière

The Indigenous Peoples of Trinidad and Tobago from the First Settlers Until Today

Arie Boomert

The Carnivorous Carnival (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #9)

Lemony Snicket

Sweet Hands: Island Cooking from Trinidad & Tobago

Ramin Ganeshram

The Jumbie Bird (Longman Caribbean Writers Series)

Ismith Khan

The Chip-Chip Gatherers

Shiva Naipaul

Measures of Expatriation

Vahni Capildeo

History of Trinidad and Tobago, Caribbean Islands: Tourism, People, Environment and Government

Uzo Marvin

A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago

Richard Ffrench

Kamal Goes to Trinidad

Malcolm Frederick

A Thirst For Rain

Roslyn Carrington

A Wave in Her Pocket: Stories from Trinidad

Lynn Joseph

What's the Best Trivia Book: Fun Trivia Games with 4,000+ Questions and Answers

Louis Richards

While Gods Are Falling

Earl Lovelace

Western Isles of Trinidad

Anthony De Verteuil