Trinidad, 1865. Michel Jean Cazabon returns home to be at his beloved mother's deathbed. Life on the island seems very different after the freedoms of post-Revolutionary Paris, where his paintings have hung in the Louvre. Despite the Emancipation Act, his childhood home is in the grip of colonial power, its people riven by the legacy of slavery. Michel Jean finds himself caught between the powerful and the dispossessed. As an artist, he enjoys the governor's patronage, painting for him the island's vistas and its women; as a Trinidadian he shares easy wisdom and nips of rum with the local boat-builders. But domestic tensions and haunting reminders of the past threaten his equanimity. His fiery half-sister, Josie - the daughter of a slave - still provokes in him a youthful passion; his flirtatious muse, Augusta, tempts him as he paints her 'for posterity'. Meanwhile, letters from his white, French wife and children remind him of their imminent arrival on the island. Caught in the sweep of history and his own intimate dramas, Michel Jean paints the figures in the landscape, the dappled light as it falls through the bamboo grove.
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"[A] beautifully subtle and sensitive novel." --"The Financial Times"
Book Description
Epic interracial period drama on a Caribbean island
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Zebra
Format:Hardcover
Towards the coming of the end of slavery & colonialisation this novel asks two questions: what price is freedom worth? Can people & land be liberated through the artists hand as Jean Cazabon sets out to capture the lives of the rich and the entrapped. Caught between two worlds of patronage and passion for his country and its oppressed people. This novel Walks you through the sensory landscape of Trinidad from the point of view as an artist on the edge of his own identity and as a flaneur spoilt by its extraordinary beauty.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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4.5 out of 5 stars
2 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Light falling on Trinidad's history
15 Nov 2012
By Susie Shrew
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
The life story of Michel Jean Cazabon, a free coloured man living in 19th century Trinidad who was successful painter is far more than a fictional biography. Very little is known about the man himself so the story is built up around his paintings and the colonial history of the island and its place in the world. Cazabon was educated in England - school and art school - and later in France where he married a French woman.The landscape with its people becomes alive through the eyes of the artist. The tensions of the society at large and within the family are tangible. It is a time of change that affects them all. It is beautifully written with much dialogue using the local patois of the time which is however understandable to a non-Trinidadian. Altogether an excellent read.Light Falling on Bamboo
5.0 out of 5 stars
FANTASTIC BOOK, BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN!
28 Dec 2012
By sracha
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
I bought this book Christmas Eve day in a bookstore in my home of Trinidadian. As a Trinidadian, i know of the famour painter and i seen pictures of his work.....it is fantastic to see the places THEN and know the places NOW. The language of the author is easy for me to understand. I can imagine that the origination of what is now our local patios/broken english sounds like french translated literally into english..who knows...
The story line is very very interesting..sometimes shocking, but at the time one can probably understood it was ALL a different world. In the misery of plantation life - grew a man who took himself and people away from it by his beautiful artistry.....the landscapes paintings (if you ever saw them in a gallery) will lead you to think that you are already there as some of the scenery still appear to be the same!
The story line is very very interesting..sometimes shocking, but at the time one can probably understood it was ALL a different world. In the misery of plantation life - grew a man who took himself and people away from it by his beautiful artistry.....the landscapes paintings (if you ever saw them in a gallery) will lead you to think that you are already there as some of the scenery still appear to be the same!
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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