Tell No-One About This

by Jacob Ross

This substantial collection brings together short stories written over a span of forty years, including those first published in the highly-rated Song for Simone (1986) and A Way to Catch the Dust (1999) and more than a dozen new stories. The previously published pieces have been extensively revised. They range from stories set in Grenada at different periods from the 1970s onwards, to several set in the UK. These are stories that have a narrative drive, a meticulousness of construction, an exactness of image and a rigorous economy in the prose. They are inventive in their explorations of a variety of narrative voices – from children to adults, male and female, Caribbean and British – that establish a persona and capture the reader from the first sentence. Jacob Ross often holds up to us a much darker place, as in “Rum and Coke” where a mother rails against the sway the local dealer has over her addicted son and does something about it. Tell No One About This will confirm Ross as amongst the very best short story writers in the Caribbean and the UK.

Genres: Short Stories

360 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2018

About the author

Jacob Ross was born in Grenada, and has lived in Britain since 1984. He is a poet, playwright, journalist, novelist and a tutor of creative writing. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has been a judge of the V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize, the Olive Cook, Scott Moncrieff and Tom-Gallon Literary Awards.
~ Sources: Government of Grenada and Peepal Tree Press

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was immediately drawn into the lyrical rhythm of the story telling and, although I found the dialect difficult at first, I easily became immersed in each story.
It takes a special kind of genius to write short stories well and Jacob Ross has it in abundance.
Full of love, despair, revenge and strong women, this is definitely my book of the year.

I received my copy free via Goodreads giveaways.

[Stuart Hargreaves · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book, full of fascinating short stories. I thoroughly enjoyed " A way to catch dust" and "Rum an Coke ". If you have only half an hour to spend reading then you can dip in and enjoy, the stories are full of surprises. I sincerely recommend you to seek out this Author and read his books.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read from Jacob Ross who was born and raised in Grenada. The book contains a collection of short stories set in Granada and the UK spanning 40 yrs from the 1970's.
The book is divided into 4 sections -
Dark - 10 stories.
Dust - 7 stories.
Oceans - 4 stories.
Flight - 8 stories.
The dialogue is written colloquially which enhances the experience for the reader and although it took me some time to get into the flow, it gives a taste of the strand of English spoken in the Caribbean.
The physical descriptions throughout the book are extremely strong and there are very colourful and interesting characters demonstrating a unique atmosphere. The book clearly strives to raise awareness of woman and their lives and sufferings at the hands of men.
This is the first short story book I have read and I admit I struggled with the shortness of the stories and sudden changes from one story to the next. This is my issue and not the authors so I would be keen to read a full length novel from this author such as his book, The Bone Readers.
I received this book from the author and Goodreads in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.

[Shivanee Ramlochan · Rating 4 out of 5]

We cannot know the fixed compass point of anyone’s heart, no matter our intimacies. Jacob Ross’ stories understand this. What’s more, they can tell you about all the secrets a human heart can hold. They activate the short story form to the heights of its power to captivate imagination, command language, and court-martial the gamut of human emotion.

Tell No-One About This loosely yet symbolically gathers its stories in four sections: Dark, Dust, Oceans, Flight. The stakes in Ross’ worlds are as immediate and omnipresent as this quartet-convergence, in which nature defies, thwarts and occasionally soothes the ambitions of man. In “De Laughin Tree”, a precocious youngster and her vigilant grandmother fend off the land grabbing claims of a foreign interloper, by paying attention to the small patch of land they inhabit, hearkening to its deep-rooted portents. “Rum An Coke” provides “the great, starless emptiness” of night as a veil for one mother’s dangerous solitary mission, en route to her son’s sleeping drug dealer. Sienna, the intrepid girl-diver of “A Different Ocean”, is as wise as an elder when it comes to the unforgiving truth of the sea:

“…each time she turned her heels up at the sky there was nothing that said she would ever see the day again. The ocean might simply embrace her and not release her. That did not frighten her. It was not the same thing. Missa Mosan told her once that no one could predict when the sea would take a life. What was certain, though, it never wasted it.”

It is no exaggeration to say that while you read Tell No-One About This, you will be in the hands of an expert craftsman, an alert and intuitive observer of what makes us all human. In stories that sweep wide, showing the interwoven, often contradictory truths of a Grenada and its people, Ross reels his reader in. When you’re released, you will not be the same as you were when you began reading: this is the crucible of all outstanding fiction. You will hum, wail and sing to these stories’ lives.

Featured on Paper Based Bookshop's blog: https://paperbased.org/2018/02/20/tel...

[Johan D'Haenen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit is een zeer goede bundel verhalen. Jacob Ross gaat erg diep en openhartig in op de psychologie van zijn karakters... ook zijn beschrijvingen zijn zeer beeldend, in die mate dat de lezer zich als het ware in de taferelen bevindt. De auteur gebruikt ook de taal van de inlanders, het lokale "pidgin" in zijn dialogen en beschrijvingen. Dat maakt het lezen er niet makkelijker op, maar het komt wel de lokale kleur van de verhalen ten goede.
Iets minder geslaagd zijn sommige verhalen die erg ver gaan in een magisch-realisme.
De verhalen in het vierde (en laatste) deel spelen zich af in Londen en raken uiteraard de gevoelens en pijnlijke levensomstandigheden van de migranten uit Grenada.
Het laatste verhaal sluit dan weer de bundel af met een symbolische positieve noot: een kind klimt in een boom om een albatros (a Dreamflyer) te bevrijden, brengt er de nacht mee door om de vogel te beschermen tegen de eilandbewoners, en slaagt er tegen de morgen in de vogel weer in de vlucht te krijgen...

[Nailah Imoja · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found the diversity and complexity of themes, combined with the profound simplicity of the storytelling, engagingly brilliant.
Each story evoked a range of emotion and thought that sometimes left me mulling and savoring the tale for days after. And each story became my favourite as I read. Having said this, if hardpressed I'd choose "De Laughin Tree" as my absolute favourite.
I wonder about the stories that didn't make this collection.... What might we be missing out on?

[Edgar Nieves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ross is a great narrator. I loved a lot of his short stories in this book.

[Martin Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of short stories, some very short. Sometimes hard to read due to the dialogue often being in the local patois.

[Lorraine · Rating 1 out of 5]

This just wasn't my cup of tea. A few of the stories I really enjoyed and would have read a full-blown version, however some of them felt like they almost ended mid-sentence,