Callie Browning's Blog - Posts Tagged "caribbean"
My upcoming novel is a finalist for a regional award!
It's a big deal, guys! My upcoming novel, "The Girl with Hazel Eyes" is a finalist for the JAAWP Caribbean Writer's Prize. I'm absolutely thrilled and I will be keeping you guys posted about how I fare in the competition. Whether I go the distance or end up self-publishing, I will definitely be bringing you this amazing Caribbean tale.
Here is an overview:
The book follows the life story of an author named Susan Taylor who grew up on the Caribbean island of Barbados. Her family was involved with the political processes that led to the island’s independence in 1966 when she was a teenager. During the time she had a non-committal intimate relationship that she didn’t properly define or acknowledge with a teenager boy from her neighbourhood. During that time, she also fell in love with the island’s first deputy prime minister, a misogynistic and self-centered man who only used her and everyone else to his advantage. She is aware of all of his criminal deeds. Their relationship turns sour after she suspects he played a part in her mother’s murder and realizes she’s pregnant with his child and after he announces that he has no interest in having the child, she seeks her revenge on him by publishing a diary that details all of his clandestine and illegal deeds. Knowing she would be cast out, Susan flees the island before the book is published but because the diary casts a bad light on the political party that her family helped to build, her entire family is subsequently exiled from Barbados. After that, there are many changes throughout the Caribbean’s political scene and a nasty nickname is born: “Pretty-eyed Susan”. Anyone called that is known as someone who can’t be trusted.
Forty years after the book was published, Susan - now an elderly lady - summons a young Barbadian writer named Lia Davis to her home in Florida and asks her to write her memoirs. The young girl is ambitious and seizes the opportunity believing that it will help her to become a successful writer. But time hasn’t been kind to Susan - she’s grown snarky and overbearing and makes Lia’s life unpleasant. What Lia doesn’t admit to Susan or herself is that she had taken Susan’s offer without hesitation because she too is running from aspects of her own life. Lia is surprised at how much her own life mirrors Susan’s but never says anything. As they spend time together, Lia grows to see another side of Susan and later realizes that Susan harbors a massive secret that impacts Lia’s life as well.
Here is an overview:
The book follows the life story of an author named Susan Taylor who grew up on the Caribbean island of Barbados. Her family was involved with the political processes that led to the island’s independence in 1966 when she was a teenager. During the time she had a non-committal intimate relationship that she didn’t properly define or acknowledge with a teenager boy from her neighbourhood. During that time, she also fell in love with the island’s first deputy prime minister, a misogynistic and self-centered man who only used her and everyone else to his advantage. She is aware of all of his criminal deeds. Their relationship turns sour after she suspects he played a part in her mother’s murder and realizes she’s pregnant with his child and after he announces that he has no interest in having the child, she seeks her revenge on him by publishing a diary that details all of his clandestine and illegal deeds. Knowing she would be cast out, Susan flees the island before the book is published but because the diary casts a bad light on the political party that her family helped to build, her entire family is subsequently exiled from Barbados. After that, there are many changes throughout the Caribbean’s political scene and a nasty nickname is born: “Pretty-eyed Susan”. Anyone called that is known as someone who can’t be trusted.
Forty years after the book was published, Susan - now an elderly lady - summons a young Barbadian writer named Lia Davis to her home in Florida and asks her to write her memoirs. The young girl is ambitious and seizes the opportunity believing that it will help her to become a successful writer. But time hasn’t been kind to Susan - she’s grown snarky and overbearing and makes Lia’s life unpleasant. What Lia doesn’t admit to Susan or herself is that she had taken Susan’s offer without hesitation because she too is running from aspects of her own life. Lia is surprised at how much her own life mirrors Susan’s but never says anything. As they spend time together, Lia grows to see another side of Susan and later realizes that Susan harbors a massive secret that impacts Lia’s life as well.
