Return to Arcadia

by H. Nigel Thomas

Fiction. Afro-Caribbean Studies. When at age 51, Joshua Eclair--victim of a pygmalianism gone awry--emerges from amnesia in a hospital in Montreal, he must explore what makes him want to erase his identity, and must undertake the process of exorcising what has brought him to this pass. This is the gripping story of a man's search for sanity set in the fictional Caribbean Isabella Island and the various places Joshua has fled to: Montreal, New York, Tallahassee, London, Paris and Madrid. This is a finely accomplished novel about a very modern predicament: the malformed dysfunctional identity in the global village. H. Nigel Thomas immigrated to Canada from the Caribbean Island of St. Vincent. He has been a teacher with the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal, and professor of American literature at Universite Laval. He resides in the Montreal suburb of Greenfield Park.

Genres: Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2007

About the author

H Nigel Thomas was born in St Vincent. He attended university in Montreal and for ten years was a teacher with the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal. He is now professor of literature at Laval University. His published works include the novel Spirits in the Dark, which was short-listed for the 1994 Quebec Writers’ Federation Hugh MacLennan Fiction Award; How Loud Can the Village Cock Crow, short fiction; and Moving through Darkness, poetry.

Reviews

[Bogdan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simply I couldn't follow through this novel.

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I though the premise of the book was fantastic but Thomas' overly detailed writing made the story feel long-drawn-out and confusing.