Review
Margaret Cezair-Thompson's
second book (following
The True History of Paradise) is a
mother-daughter coming-of-age saga set against the
turbulent backdrop of post-Independence Jamaica.
Inspired by a few facts from Errol Flynn's life, and
rooting her story firmly in Jamaican history,
Cezair-Thompson vividly imagines the life of Ida,
who is little more than a child herself when she
gives birth to her daughter May, the illegitimate
child of 1930/40s movie star Errol Flynn - known as
a swashbuckling adventurer on screen, and for his
glittering parties and affairs off screen. Most of
the action takes place in Jamaica, but even when Ida
leaves the island for some years the author stays
true to the Jamaican experience because, for at...
Beyond the Book
A Short History of Jamaica
The island nation of
Jamaica is in the Greater
Antilles about 385 northeast of
the Central American mainland,
and about 90 miles south of
Cuba. Within a century of
Columbus sailing the ocean blue
and the subsequent Spanish
occupation of the island in
1494, the native Arawaks (who
called the island Xaymaca) had
effectively died out, due to
smallpox and interbreeding with
European and African settlers
(the term Arawak is used to
describe the Amerindians the
Spanish encountered in the...
