Présentation de l'éditeur
Celia's mother died bringing her into the world - when one soul flies in, another flies out, her aunt Tassi says. So she lives in Black Rock, Tobago, with her cousins and Tassi's second husband Roman, a man so sly he could crawl under a snake's belly on stilts. Celia thinks he's the devil, so when he does something that proves her right, she runs away to Trinidad and a new life in service.
Revue de presse
Her writing is as lushly beautiful as the landscape she describes - it's the kind of novel that leaves your head filled with gorgeous pictures. -- Kate Saunders ―
The Times Published On: 2009-02-19
Set in the intense heat and vibrant lushness of the Caribbean, this compelling novel tells the story of Celia, an orphan with a prophecy hanging over her...it sings with life, texture and verve -- Victoria Moore ―
Daily Mail Published On: 2009-04-03
This beautifully assured debut is rich with the sumptuous vistas, poetry and spirit of the Caribbean...Clashes of culture, temperament, loyalty and love jostle together, with the dramatic events and quandaries woven together with lyricism, tenderness and sensuality. ―
Easy Living Published On: 2009-04-01
There are hints of Jean Rhys's
Wide Sargasso Sea throughout Smyth's hypnotic, eerie novel... Smyth writes entrancingly on tropical heat and light, indolence, vengeance and desire. -- Catherine Taylor ―
The Guardian Published On: 2009-03-21
Certain novels are alive with colour. Written in lush, lyrical language evocative of its tropical setting, ... Smyth's debut is an absorbing and morally complex read with a bittersweet twist at the end -- Melissa McClements ―
Financial Times Published On: 2009-03-21
[A] beautifully written story of her journey into adulthood. Tropical landscape, realistic dialogue and a strong plotline make this debut a winner. -- Jennifer Ryan ―
Image Published On: 2009-03-01
In painterly images, Smyth evocatively shows more than she tells... There are echoes of the archetypal "mad woman", if not in an attic then in a marital room in the Caribbean, with scenes reminiscent of Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea... this is a vivid and compelling story, exploring the extent of our control over our destinies. -- Anita Sethi ―
The Independent Published On: 2009-03-27
A damaged but irresistible heroine... Smyth's story is a powerful, authentic one and Celia is an appealing, earthy, yet spiritual heroine who grows, wounded and embattled, through the course of the book -- Lesley McDowell ―
Independent on Sunday Published On: 2009-03-22
A captivating read -- Aisling Foster ―
The Irish Times Published On: 2009-03-07
Amanda Smyth writes like a descendant of Jean Rhys. Black Rock is a powerful cocktail of heat and beautiful coolness, written in a heady, mesmerising yet translucent prose which marks Smyth out as a born novelist. ―
Ali Smith
A beautiful, lyrical novel -- Patrick Freyne ―
Sunday Tribune Published On: 2009-03-08
A very remarkable book ―
DoveGreyReader
A stunning debut novel ―
The Gloss
A lovely piece of storytelling ―
Waterstone's Books Quarterly
In the mid-twentieth-century Trinidad and Tobago of Amanda Smyth's antipatriarchal debut novel, it's infuriatingly easy to keep a good woman down... Like Alice Walker, Smyth vividly and empathetically re-creates the gender and racial tensions in a culture's past, making them newly relevant ―
Elle US
From its first page, Amanda Smyth's compelling debut novel, Lime Tree Can't Bear Orange, wraps readers in the sensual riches and lilting rhythms of Caribbean island life... On Trinidad the truth of these prophecies slowly unfolds, and in this unfurling, Smyth demonstrates that she is equally adept at evoking the character and pace of island life, its mix of sun-beaten indolence and simmering violence, catch-as-catch-can employment and postcard-prettified dreams, and the uneasy racial roles that still move, even in the middle of the 20th century, to the ghostly tune of colonial times. As
