The Bread the Devil Knead

by Lisa Allen-Agostini

Alethea Lopez is about to turn 40. Fashionable, feisty and fiercely independent, she manages a boutique in Port of Spain, but behind closed doors she’s covering up bruises from her abusive partner and seeking solace in an affair with her boss. When she witnesses a woman murdered by a jealous lover, the reality of her own future comes a little too close to home.

Bringing us her truth in an arresting, unsparing Trinidadian voice, Alethea unravels memories repressed since childhood and begins to understand the person she has become.

Her next step is to decide the woman she wants to be.

This is an engrossing and atmospheric novel with a strong feminist message at the heart of its page-turning plot. It explores an abusive love-affair with searing honesty, and skilfully tackles the issue of gender violence and racism against the lush and heady backdrop of the national festival, and the music that feeds it. It’s impossible not to root for Alethea – she is an unforgettable heroine, trapped in ways she is only just beginning to understand but shining with strength, resolve and, ultimately, self-determination.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Feminism, Adult, Race, Book Club

245 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2021

About the author

Lisa Allen-Agostini is a poet, playwright, and fiction writer from Trinidad and Tobago. She is the author of a children's novel, The Chalice Project (forthcoming, 2008). An award-winning journalist, she is the Internet editor and a columnist with the Trinidad Guardian.

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very strong work by Trinidadian writer and journalist Lisa Allen-Agostini. Set in Port of Spain and largely written in Trinidadian creole, the main story is centered on Alethea, a 39 year old woman in an abusive relationship. As the narrative develops, we see that violence is endemic in Alethea's life. The story explores generational trauma and patterns, but it never feels like the characters are stand-ins for anyone other than themselves. Alethea is a fully developed character with a powerful voice. Although this a harrowing read (triggers abound), there is a note of hope at the end.

[Meike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2022
This is certainly not the most complex novel ever written, but the story held my attention and it delivers an important message in very detailed, disturbing images - I'm usually not one to give trigger warnings, so here goes my first trigger warning ever: The book contains violence against women, rape (including rape of small children), and other things I can't include due to spoilers. While this is not Fernanda Melchor-level in-your-face prose, it's certainly tough stuff for a Women's Prize nominee.

Our protagonist is Alethea, a fashion store manager who is about to turn 40. She has survived an abusive childhood about which we learn more as the story progresses. Now, Alethea lives with an abusive boyfriend, and although there are people around her who encourage her to leave him, she is emotionally unable to break up with the drinking, mostly jobless musician. When she befriends a younger co-worker and, after many years, coincidentally runs into her brother plus a former school friend, she confronts her past and her life takes a turn, until everything escalates at a big public event...

Yes, there is a positive message in the book: Change is possible, and you are not alone, even if it sometimes it might feel like it. This is juxtaposed with grim societal realities in Trinidad and Tobago (many of which are not exclusive to the country): The odds Alethea is facing because she is unmarried and childless, and the severe trauma that hinders her from escaping the abusive relationship. Alethea might appear strong and independent on the outside, and in some regards, she is, but she struggles to face her family's secrets and her own wounds (which are truly horrid). So in a way, this is a book about systematic physical and psychological violence against women that is rooted in widespread misogyny.

The story is told in vernacular, but it is easy to follow plus the tone underlines the text's atmosphere. Alethea herself gives us glimpses into her past, other aspects even she herself didn't know are added by her brother, plus there are a handful of chapters that are told from the third person perspective, describing the abuse she endured in a neutral, haunting tone.

An excellent choice for the Women's Prize, as the novel discusses an important feminist topic and highlights the work of a talented female writer from Trinidad and Tobago, a region that in the literary world tends to get overlooked (which is a mistake, as the novel proves).

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you two don’t stop all you nastiness, you go eat the bread the devil knead

Now shortlisted for the 2022 Women’s Prize.

I have to say immediately that it is very reminiscent of another excellent book which was shortlisted for the 2021 prize – “How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps the House” by the Bajan lawyer Cherie Jones. That was a searing and difficult read about male violence towards women set on a beach resort in Barbados in 1984 but was ultimately (to quote my own review) about how "experience of previous generations, passed down to them as societal and familial expectations and teachings, shape and influence their life choices and responses to their own traumas: with what seem like lessons to be avoided from previous generations ending up inevitably repeated."

This book has a similar theme although perhaps with a more positive ending.

It is written by a Trinidadian stand-up comedian and writer: previously of poetry, young adult novels including science-fiction and of local newspaper columns – most recently written in English but previously one written in Trinidadian Creole.

Some of those influences are clear here – others less so as this is very far from a young adult novel (as its themes are very difficult), particularly not a science fiction one (as its all too grounded in an all too common reality) and, despite the judges seeing it as "really funny and witty", for me a harrowing tale (albeit with that ending note of hope).

It tells of male violence towards women in 2005 Trinidad and traces that violence back over the life of the main protagonist – Alethea - and ultimately back to two prior generations.

The main present day parts of the book are narrated in first person by Alethea in a vibrant Trinidadian Creole. This Creole is easy for me as someone from England to follow – and any difficulty in reading the book is due to the subject matter and not the arresting and fully convincing voice. The book also has some occasionally interleaved third party sections set over 6 days 35 years earlier when she was a 5 year old. The narrative of these is in English (although of course the dialogue naturally in Creole). These sections are I believe written by Alethea later in 2005.

Alethea, about to turn 40 in early 2005, is a store manager in one of a chain of knock-off boutiques in Port of Spain. She is attractive, with a keen sense for clothes (but not in her own dress) – her sole (although not inconsiderable given the post colonial colorism prevalent in the society) advantage in a difficult life, a near white skin (and near straight hair) inherited from her strict Catholic mother.

After a series of transitory and commonly violent relationships since she fled her equally violent home at seventeen, cutting of all contact with her family – which included her Uncle Allen and Colin (Allen’s child from an American relationship who he brings back with him to Trinidad and expects his sister, Alethea’s mother, to look after – in practice Alethea (known then as “girly”) becomes his pseudo mother.

Alethea now lives with Leo – a once famous band member, but with his reputation rather faded due to alcohol and who has over the year turned increasingly violent towards her. She is also having an affair with the boss of the stores.

Alethea is something of a closed book to those around her (particularly her fellow workers) and has almost no friends (male or female), instead taking refuge in escaping into (appropriately) fiction and into her interior thoughts (imagining a black hole into which all the bad things in her life are sucked) – but at the start of the year decides to reveal her bruising (which has previously concealed under layers of foundation) to her colleague Tamika. She also agrees for the first time to attend the annual Fire Fete which forms part of Carnival (and which later forms the climax of the novel).

Her passive/resigned acceptance of Leo’s violence is put into sharp context and urgency when a victim of domestic violence is murdered in front of her shop front.

And two serendipitous encounters – with an old school friend with designs on opening a high end boutique on the Island, and then with the Catholic priest Tamika wants to marry her - both open up unexpected new opportunities for Alethea’s future while causing her to have to confront her past, and realise it was even more traumatic and terrible than she even had realised at the time.

This is a difficult book to read – relationship rape, family child abuse, violent death all feature repeatedly, but a powerful one and worth of its place on the list, particularly for the way in which it traces how violence (even the violent entitlement and skin colour gradation division legacy of colonialism) reverberate across generations.

We realise that those eating the devil’s bread are not necessarily those who did not stop their nastiness.

The book does end though with a positive message and an opportunity for Alethea to exorcise the demons in her memory by honestly revisiting the traumas of her past.

A very worthwhile addition to the longlist. And congratulations also to the publisher - Myriad, a Brighton based independent publisher.

[BookOfCinz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Updated January 23, 2022

I decided to choose this book to kick start BookOfCinz Book Club for 2022. The first time I read it, I was a little underwhelmed but in re-reading it I was so moved by the themes explored- particularly that of friendship. Lisa Allen-Agostini writes a friendship like no other and I wanted so much more of it!
Yes, this is a book about abuse, incest, generational trauma, and hurt and while there was a heaviness throughout, it didnt feel exhaustive and I think it had to do with the book being told from the first person and in the voice of a Trini speaker.

I truly enjoyed re-reading this one and I cannot wait to discuss during book club!

The Bread The Devil Knead is a book you will inhale in one go.

The Bread the Devil Knead is set in Trinidad, we meet forty-year-old Alethea Lopez who is the manager of a fashion boutique in Downtown, Port of Spain. Alethea does not get too close to anyone, and she does not have many friends. She is very independent and spends majority of her time and effort hiding her bruises she receives from her common-law husband.

Alethea who goes by Allie has been with Leo, a failed, washed up soca artist who spends majority of his time drinking, doing low paying gigs and cheating on her. Anything can set him off, so she is constantly on eggshells around him. Why does she stay? Well, what other options does she have? She grew up with an abusive mother and was molested at an early age… life for Allie was never easy but she is making the best of the situation.

While at work one day, a woman is shot and killed by outside the boutique. Allie finds out that woman was in an abusive relationship. This death hit closer to home for her, because she keeps imagining this is what may happen if she stays with Leo… but what are her choices?
Lisa Allen-Agostini brings us a heroine that we cannot help but cheer for. We feel for her in so many ways and we want her to win. Themes of love, gender violence, racism, colorism, abuse and violence are thoroughly examined in this less than 300 page book. We get an honest look into the life of a woman who is not faced with a lot of choice and must figure out how to leave an abusive relationship.

I spent less than a day reading this book because I just had to know what happened to Allie. I did feel like Allie could have gotten a bit of a let up, it was abuse after abuse after abuse… I mean.. wow. I did enjoy how Allen-Agostini write female friendship, it was truly a beauty to experience. I also felt the book wrapped up too quickly and I wish she had spent more pages examining Allie’s earlier life and what happened after she ran away from home. I felt there were a lot of plot holes and I kept wondering “how did she get here?”

Overall a good read.

[Eric Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It can sometimes be difficult for people on the outside of an abusive relationship to understand why someone would remain in such a dangerous situation. Books such as “When I Hit You” and “In the Dream House” have provided dynamic points of view exploring this question which encompasses much more than toxic romance. Factors such as money, gender, culture, religion, sexuality and psychology all play into why someone doesn't simply leave their home after being degraded, hit and/or raped. Alethea, the protagonist of Lisa Allen-Agostini's novel “The Bread the Devil Knead”, gives another important viewpoint. She's a Trinidadian woman who manages a clothing boutique in Port of Spain. She's about to turn forty and she has lived with Leo for over five years. He's a former locally-famous musician who has come to regularly beat Alethea and controls her to the point where she has little social contact outside of work. Though she's a deeply private person, Alethea decides to share the nature of her abuse with a colleague one day. This confession combined with the return of two key figures from her past and a deadly attack outside her shop create subbstantial changes in her life.

I immediately warmed to Alethea's independent nature and reserved sensibility. She frequently loses herself in books and it's enjoyable reading her commentary on several different authors she's read. Though I grew as concerned as the people around her who see her bruises as signs of an abusive relationship, I gradually become more aware why the question of leaving Leo wasn't so simple for her. On the surface she's cognizant of the social stigma around single women: “people does get on like if you, as a woman, who have no man, you not good enough, like you's not a real woman. So if is either stay with a asshole or have no man at all, I rather stay with a asshole.” However, there are deeper factors to do with her past being abused by her mother and an uncle which factor into why she reacts to being beaten and controlled in the way that she does. Scenes from Alethea's childhood are interspersed with the present story to show how they continue to impact her. Readers should be aware that there are some disturbing scenes of abuse in the book. They aren't there to shock but to show how it affects Alethea's relationship with her own body, men and sex. I appreciated the way in which the author artfully arranged these scenes within the novel to make this larger statement.

Read my full review of The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini at LonesomeReader

[Dwayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Jamaican, I LOVED this. I don't think I've ever read a book quite like it. Written almost entirely in Caribbean creole, the language is amazing. Maybe I'll change my mind later, maybe I won't, but I really wanted this to win the Women's Prize for Fiction.

Telling the story of Alethea aka Allie aka Girlie, the story takes place in Trinidad and uses the flashback technique to great effect. Her youth was awful, and it's understandable how, as an adult, she doesn't feel that she deserves better. It's a rich and involving story that will shock you not only with its content but also because of how good it is.

Be warned- a lot of this could be triggering. There's domestic abuse, rape, incest... I'm surprised at how much this very slim book (my Kindle version is less than 250 pages) covers. For a lot of us, island life isn't easy. There's a lot of trauma, a lot of pain; but there's also hope, humour, and a lot of beauty. If you read this, I promise you'll see exactly what I mean.

[Rincey · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, MAJOR trigger warnings for this book: physical abuse, sexual abuse, child abuse, child sexual abuse.

This book can be A LOT but there is also a lightness to this book that I found surprising. However, I felt so conflicted throughout this book because you're following a character you just want to shake some sense into. It's definitely an engaging and well-written book but woooooo boy, it feels like a lot.

Watch me discuss this book in more detail in my Women's Prize reading vlog: https://youtu.be/yR4uDm-Df30

[Jodi · Rating 5 out of 5]

TW: violence, domestic abuse, child physical and sexual abuse

This novel contains loads of scenes that can be triggering, and many scenes threw me for a loop. But I’m a fairly sensitive person, so I think it could be just fine for most people. In my case, though, I think if I’d known more about the book before I began, I might actually have passed on it. But I didn’t. I finished it, and for the most part, I’m very glad I did. But it’s definitely not for the faint of heart. I shed lots of tears.

It’s a very powerful story and really quite engaging. The main protagonist, Alethea, had a miserable childhood, growing up in rural Trinidad, with an angry, extremely abusive mother. Due to certain circumstances, mom’s brother and his baby son, Colin, also lived with them. Colin was mostly raised by Alethea, and their bond was strong, until she ran off at fifteen and never once looked back.

As you might expect, the abuse continued into her adult life—this time at the hands of her common-law husband, Leo. Colin—now a priest—eventually found her and their close bond was still evident. And by her 40th birthday, we could see a speck of light at the end of the tunnel. Allie was beginning to tire of having to conceal her many bruises. In fact, she was tiring of the frequent beatings, period! She never considers leaving, though. But as fate would have it, a good life was on the horizon—a life free of abuse.

You’ll have to find out for yourself what happened.😉 As mentioned, this is a very powerful story, and remarkably well-written! I very highly recommend it!! Note that, for the sake of authenticity, the first-person narrative is written in Alethea’s native tongue—Trinidadian Creole. Don’t be put off by it, though! You’ll be surprised how quickly you get used to it. I thought it was kind of funny when, before I'd finished, some of the common vernacular had crept into my brain, and I was talking to myself in Creole!!😂 Let's hope that ends soon!!!🙄

5 good-things-come-to-those-who-wait stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Hugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shortlisted for the Womens' Prize 2022

My backlog of unreviewed books has crept up again, which is a shame because I very much enjoyed this vibrant story of a Trinidadian woman escaping from domestic abuse.

The main protagonist Alethea, who narrates much of the story in creole dialect, has worked her way up to being the manager of a clothes shop in Port of Spain. Her partner Leo is a semi-retired singer who drinks too much, is jealous of her success and whose violence is triggered by very little.

The story switches between this present narrative and memories from Alethea's childhood, shared with a younger cousin Colin who becomes an adopted brother, who she meets again after many years as a church minister.

She also meets an old friend who returns having spent much of her life bored by her marriage in America, who involves her in a plan to open a new luxury boutique. Both see her predicament and attempt to help her, and in the end, after a bloody denouement, Alethea is left to make her own decisions about the future.

What lifts the book is the lively narration, which really brings the setting to life, but never gets in the way of the story. A book that thoroughly deserves its place on the women's prize list.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars
“Ever since I was small, when I get licks I does picture myself disappearing inside a black hole. The black hole does swallow up everything, starting with my navel and sucking everything down with it. This morning the black hole pick up the places where Leo cuff and kick me the night before, the places where he hold me down and force me to do what he does call making love, the places with the nasty kitchen and the overflowing rubbish bag and the mossy bathroom and the neighbours talking behind my back and the mud on the road and the cussing maxi driver and the gaping little girl…everything get suck down inside that black hole and I was staring at the page of the book like it was blank or infinity.”

This is by a Trinidadian author, written partially in Creole dialect and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize in 2022. I am not too familiar with Trinidadian dialects, but sources more knowledgeable than me say the author has nailed it. Alethea manages a boutique in Port of Spain: she is forty and in an abusive relationship. She is feisty and independent, but there seems to be inertia in relation to her partner. There are cutbacks to her childhood, which it also transpires, contains a good deal of abuse.
It does often take time for those being abused to break away and may even defend the abuser for a while. Allen-Agostini captures this well:

“Hear nah, girl, you have to leave that man, you know.’
‘Who, Leo?’
‘Yes, Leo! Who else? You feel is the nuts man I there with?’
‘Well these nuts kind of dry…’
‘Thing to cry you laughing?’
‘What you want me do, Tamika? Leave him and go where? And do what?’
‘How you mean? You’s a big woman. You’s a free woman, too. You not married. You don’t have no children. You have a good work. You buy house and car and land with he or what?’
I shake my head.
‘Well, pack your things and leave.’
‘I can’t just walk out on him. Is not really he fault.’”

And:

“Even with the licks and the rest of it, when he wasn’t hurting me, he was my best lover. For me, that was good enough.”

Allen-Agostini describes the process Alethea goes through very well without over describing the abuse. The ending feels a little too contrived but the journey is compelling and in Alethea Allen-Agostini has created a memorable character. She is another Trinidadian writer to take note of and she does write with purpose:

“I would like readers to take away that we can be redeemed and that we can grow beyond our histories.”

[Saajid Hosein · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such and engaging read. As a Trinidadian, this story felt so close to me even though my life is nothing like Alethea's. Allen-Agostini writes this story in Trinidadian Creole in a way that felt so organic and not contrived like when many other authors try to do this same. Just a purely brilliant book.

[Ayanna Lloyd Banwo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book completely transported me to Port of Spain which is as vivid a character in this book as the women who work and dream and hustle there. From jostling for a Carenage maxi at rush hour, the electricity of town on a lunch time, the prickle behind your neck that tells you the place about to get hot and it is time to make yourself scarce, the office friendships and rivalries between working women, and the absolute sweaty bliss of a big fete, Port of Spain is clear and vivid and made me long for home. But The Bread the Devil Knead is no work of nostalgia. Alethea Lopez, nearing 40 and not always happy about it, has no time for nostalgia and her rose- coloured glasses mash up long time. She’s busy and battling - with her past, her job as the manager of a clothes store, her abusive partner, and her married businessman lover on the side. Allen-Agostini’s prose is unsparing and her eye on the routine violence in the lives of ordinary women is razor sharp, but there is tenderness there too. We ache for Alethea but don't pity her and we never stop rooting for her. It’s a hard balance to strike but this book manages it. Always a pleasure, too, to read Trinidad English on the page in all its glory. Could we have had a touch more about Alethea’s time between leaving home and making a life for herself in town? Maybe. But this might just be my desire to spend more time with her. But overall, a fast-paced read that sucks you in until the very last page

[Paul Fulcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

But I's a private person. I not accustom telling nobody my business, and it shook even me that I come and tell Tamika how Leo does treat me. I don't know what get into me, in truth.
...
Too, besides, man does hardly hit my face. Is like they know where to lash, where to kick, where to cuff, that I could cover it up with clothes. One time a man try to choke me; I had was to wear all kind of turtleneck and scarf and thing for weeks. Other than that, I get break hand, break ribs, a buss head once from a ashtray a man pelt behind me. When I go hospital is always the same looks I does get but always the same story I does give: is fall I fall.

The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini is shortlisted for the 2022 Women's Prize and published by the independent Myriad Editions:

Myriad Editions is an independent publisher based in Brighton. Since 2005 we have developed a distinctive style of publishing original fiction, graphic novels and feminist nonfiction.
...
We have cemented reputations as well as created them, building on our core mission to publish excellent and original books, establish a literary niche against the mainstream, and to develop and support authors’ careers at home and abroad.
...
In 2017 Myriad merged with New Internationalist as part of a joint plan to reach wider audiences and publish books that push boundaries and embrace diversity. Since then we have also published nonfiction, including memoirs. We strive to make the personal political and the local international with books that speak to and of global and urgent shared concerns.

We publish extraordinary storytellers and their remarkable work—fiction or nonfiction, mapped, drawn or written, these are books for our times.

The Bread the Devil Knead is a powerful but harrowing work, focused on domestic abuse, physical and sexual, both with partners and between relatives.

The novel's Trinidadian language is its highlight, alongside the memorable narrator Alethea.

For me on the downside, the plot was a little contrived, particularly the opening where on one day Alethea decides to admit to someone for the first time that her partner abuses her, and then later that day coincidentally and separately meets two key figures from her childhood, and the ending a little too neat (particularly an incident heavily foreshadowed earlier in the novel).

3.5 stars

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can see why this book was nominated for the women's literature award it does deal with some hard subjects like domestic abuse and violence , took me a while to get into this book but overall did enjoy how the characters were portrayed.

[farahxreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haven't cheered so hard for a character in ages. Alethea deserves everything good in this world.

4.25/5 stars

[Kate O'Shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not the sort of book you could say you enjoyed because it deals with such subjects as child and sexual abuse, rape, incest and domestic abuse.

However Lisa Allen-Agostini gives us such an amazing character in Alicia that you cannot help but cheer for her every step of her journey. She writes this character with such authenticity from the descriptions of her childhood and her lack of self worth to the beautiful Trinidadian Creole dialect.

I listened to the audio version of the story and it took me a little while to get into the rhythm of the language but once I'd slowed my busy mind down it became almost hypnotic. Certainly the lyrical use of language jars with the (at times) horrific story.

All respect to Lisa Allen-Agostini for bringing us this beautiful story. I'm looking forward to reading more of her work in the future.

[Viola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smaga grāmata, kas parāda, cik grūti ir izrauties no vardarbības ģimenē, kas savā ziņā kļuvusi par daļu no galvenās varones identitātes. Tomēr vienmēr ir iespēja kaut ko darīt, atrast izeju, cilvēkus, kuri palīdzēs un atbalstīs. Grāmata arī sniedz ieskatu trinidadiešu kreolu kultūrā un ikdienas dzīvē.

[Anushka Malik · Rating 2 out of 5]

I pick up the book and carry it in the back by the rocks and pelt it hard in the sea.

Those are the closing lines of this book and ironically enough ...exactly what I felt like doing to it numerous times while reading it.

2/5★★☆☆☆

This was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2022?
Great! Of course I'd want to read this.

And now that I have?
I. Do. Not. Recommend. This.

Why?
Multiple reasons and the main ones ain't even the fact that it has trigger elements that would mess with anyone's peace.

Child abuse, sexual abuse, rape, incest, domestic violence, infidelity, murder. I wouldn't be surprised if I forgot to list something more here, despite how long that list is.

The novel is written in Trinidadian Creole and initially I thought it would be fun to try it but the novelty wore off soon. To those of us who're not familiar with the Creole, it just seems like broken English and it's very distracting.

Especially in scenes that are HARD. Painful. Heartbreaking.
I'm on the verge of crying or screaming and the language will distract me and strangle the catharsis before it could be purged.

Sigh.

I don't know. Someone else might find this a book about female suffering and eventual empowerment. I sure did not.
Alethea. The protagonist. She didn't do anything to get herself out of her bad situation, not even at the very end. Sheer luck did it for her. And that just doesn't do it for me.
The whole time I kept waiting for her to grow a spine and leave that man but she didn't. She suffered a lot. Her whole life, ever since she was born, she suffered.
Maybe it is her strength that kept her alive and breathing but that's not a strength I want to read about.
I want to read about the kind of strength that aids a woman to save herself and rise. Not one that just keeps dusting off and getting up after being kicked, only to go back and let herself be kicked again.
I get it. That's the reality of a lot of unfortunate women. And I feel for them. But this is fiction and I hoped for a better ending. More inspiring or something and it was a sheer let down.

Not a good sign for my first read of 2024.

[Darryl Suite · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 // triggering

[Eve · Rating 3 out of 5]

A powerful and meaningful story, although I wished I checked the trigger warnings before I read this book. It took me a while to get used to the language used in this book as it was different from the English that I learned and used daily, but it is interesting to educate myself in this way. Objectively, this book is an important read that provides a deeper insight into the consequences of growing up in an abusive household and the complexity of an abusive relationship. Unfortunately, this book didn't work for me as it almost put me into a reading slump.

[Shreya ♡]

.

[Aoife Cassidy McM · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

Longlisted for the @womensprize, The Bread The Devil Knead is set in Port of Spain, Trinidad. It took me longer than it usually would to read a book of this length (200 ish pages), probably because it’s written entirely in Trinidadian dialect. It forced me to slow down and in doing so, it got under my skin. I grew to love the main character and narrator Alethea, wanting the best for her and shedding a tear for her towards the end.

This is a tale of survival, resilience and hope. There’s so much sadness in it too, with abuse (sexual and domestic) persisting through the generations, but hopefully ending with Alethea.

Alethea has grown up unloved, neglected and abused by her mother and “uncle”, and acted as a quasi parent to her little brother Colin for years, from whom she is now estranged. She lives with Leo (musician and domestic abuser), works in a clothes shop and has no aspirations of anything better, until Colin and an old friend Jankie come back into her life.

The book has been compared to How The One Armed Sister Sweeps The House (which made last year’s WP shortlist), but while the setting and themes are similar, the pace of this one is slower and it’s not as depressing. Personally, I preferred it. Worthy of its long listing, I think this would be lovely on audiobook. 3.5/5 ⭐️

[Aoife · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly beautiful, at times devastating book about a woman's realization of her own self worth, and her journey to escape an abusive history and face the truth of her childhood - and adulthood- of abusive relationships.

“And what is love? I human, I have feelings. I with the man. Of course I love him. Yet, the way he love me does make me hate myself.”

This book tells the story of Alethea, an almost 40-year-old woman living in Trinidad and daily having to hide the marks her common law husband gives her every night. As we get to know Alethea - her intelligence, her independence and her childhood, the reader begins to understand the reasons why Alethea 'allows' herself to be trapped inside an abusive relationship. But when a woman is shot dead by a man in a 'domestic incident' outside the shop she works in, Allie can't help but see herself in the victim, and the potential of something just as deadly happening to her.

This book is addictive as you grasp onto Allie's story and all the hardships she's dealt with in life and you just root for her to stand up for herself and somehow get away from Leo and make things better for herself. It was lovely seeing Allie reconnect with her cousin/brother Colin, and her childhood friend Jankie and I enjoyed the emphasis on female friendship and support and kindness from others.

There are some really hard moments in this book - not only the constant abuse and fear Allie feels around Leo but also as we learn from her childhood, the sexual abuse she received from her uncle from the age of 5, as well as the daily physical and emotional abuse of her mother. And from there, the stream of men Allie found herself with that treated her the same, so she really knows nothing but abusive relationships and men who will put her down - physically and emotionally.

There were some interesting topics in this book as well around race and colourism. Allie is a white woman though we soon learn her grandmother was a Black woman - and Colin is a Black man. Allie details ways in which she has noticed she has been treated differently to Colin due to their skin tones.

Really enjoyed this though as I've said it was a hard read at times. Allie's story is tough, educational yet inspiring.

[Rachel Louise Atkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolutely brilliant but devastating read. This book is about a woman who is in a heavily abusive relationship. Daily she experiences physical and sexual abuse from her long term partner and shows up to work hiding the scars and bruises beneath her clothes and pretending everything’s fine. The further the book goes on we learn about her childhood and some of the horrific things she also endured at the hands of her mother and uncle.

It’s a really hard read and I found myself really struggling to get through some parts of it because of the contents, but there were also moments of real friendship and support to hang on to and it was great to see the narrator explore her passions and learn how to let go of her abusive past. The writing was great and I never felt bored whilst reading it, she was such an amazing character with a real sense of depth to her that lifted her off the page. I’d love to read more from the author as the way the story was told and structured was so good.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic writing, I was completely immersed in Alethea's world from first to last page.

[Vanessa Pereira Vieira · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 stars

I fell in love with the language and the writing right away. I was so excited that I told everybody my new favorite language is trini english from now on. It also helped listening to the audiobook read by the author herself because she gave me an unforgettable experience (my inner voice turned into trini english now). I really don't want to give any details about this book away because going in blind is the best way to experience it, but I recommend you (strongly) go check out the trigger warnings first because I went in unprepared and yep it hurt... Anyway, Alethea is a character I won't forget so soon and if she were a real person I would wish her well and all of the best luck in life, because if someone deserves it, it's her. Somehow I can tell she will be alright.
You really need to check out this book, I really loved it except from a few parts (pages) towards the end, but I guess nobody would like those parts...

[Jesus Flores · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bread the devil Knead

Un libro con temáticas fuertes y difíciles de leer, pero la forma que tiene de contarte la vida de Aliie(Alethea), los flashbacks a su pasado, el cómo poco a poco la llegada de ciertas personas la hace abrirse a la posibilidad de una vida diferente a pesar de que ella quiere seguir atrapada en la situación en la que esta, hace que uno quiera seguir leyendo, con la esperanza de que la historia vaya a un desenlace

Y si bien hay momento que te hacen temblar del horror de lo que le pasa a Allie y a Girlie, de odiar a la humanidad por los monstros que le tocan, creo que la final el libro muestra de una forma adecuada las situaciones que describe y los problemas de salir de una situación así

4.6 stars

[Lita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raw and honest one woman's story about survival and growth through a series of abusive relationships starting in her early childhood. I must commend the author's courage to write about things people probably don't want to read. And the boldness to give the story an authentic Trinidadian voice. As a reader, I had to adjust to the language, but it was well worth it as it gave the story another level of credibility. Be warned that the book has a lot of difficult-to-read content that might keep you up at night.

[Bookworm (have loads of catching up to do) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4*

This is a story about domestic abuse and the way the trauma trickles down through the generation. The narration is in a unique Trinidadian voice with a creole dialect, it does take sometime getting used to, but once we do, there's no going back.
Our protagonist is witty and bold and strong. She had me cheering for her. Sometimes, when we read stories about abuse, we want to shake the character by their shoulders and shout and tell that enough is enough; that they need to stand up for themselves! But this one, right here, I was just wrecked because we get to know Alethea's pov and why she chooses to stick around, the way there's a lot of social stigma around single woman, class, gender, culture, race, religion, sexuality. The truth of all of it and the fact that it still prevails in this time and age.
The last 100 pages had me hooked and all I can say is I'm glad that it ends with a note of hope. Because all the Alethea's of this world deserve that semblance of peace, hope and positivity in our reality too.

This harrowing debut novel by the author, Lisa Allen-Agostini is indeed a very strong contender for Women's Prize Fiction 2022.

Recommended! Please take a note of various trigger warnings in this novel.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Bread the Devil Knead, Lisa Allen-Agostini's debut adult novel, is narrated by Alethea, a Trinidadian woman in her late thirties who lives with a violent partner, Leo. She's repeating patterns she learnt in childhood from a neglectful mother and abusive uncle, and while she dreams of managing her own clothing boutique, this seems unlikely to ever happen while she's under Leo's control. The Trinidadian Creole that Alethea narrates in is the best aspect of this novel; while I didn't understand all the words and phrases used, this wasn't a problem, and I was introduced to a lot of brilliantly vivid vernacular: 'dayclean'; 'when me and Tamika eye make four'; 'she skin up she face'. Unfortunately, pretty much nothing else about this worked for me. It reads like simplistic women's fiction. There's almost no characterisation except for Alethea herself, and even she is thinly drawn; from other reviews, I'd expected her voice to be funnier and more memorable. The Bread The Devil Knead is reminiscent of one of last year's Women's Prize shortlistees, Cherie Jones's How The One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House, but lacks its fluid writing and rich, complex cast. It also reminded me of another 2022 longlistee I did not like, Miranda Cowley Heller's The Paper Palace: both books deal with familial child abuse and how abusive relationships are transmitted from generation to generation (and, bizarrely, both feature a scene where the protagonist-as-little-girl wets herself because her mother is too keen to impress to take her to the toilet). Like The Paper Palace, The Bread the Devil Knead has very little new to say, which makes its recital of pain feel gratuitous, and it's even more badly written. My least favourite title on the Women's Prize longlist so far.