Caribbean Folk Tales: Stories from the Islands and the Windrush Generation

by Wendy Shearer

Caribbean folk tales set alongside local reminiscences of 1950s migration from the Caribbean to Britain

Caribbean islands are rich in oral stories. Steeped in history where ancestors arrived as slaves, many stories are of West African origin. Carried to the islands with rhythm and song, stories were blended with European and East Indian folklore.

Professional Storyteller Wendy Shearer has gathered together stories from many islands, with themes of magic and mystery, love and loss, tricksters and fools. Alongside the stories are reminiscences of migration from the Windrush generation - people who came from the Caribbean to Britain, shaping new stories to influence the old.

Cric! Crac! Be enchanted by La Diablesse from Trinidad, outsmarted by the trickster Anansi, terrified by the shape-shifting Baccoo in Guyana and hunted by the Soucouyant from Dominica. Be inspired by the Jamaican story ‘Jon Do-Good’, which tells of the movement of people from Africa to the Caribbean; ‘do good, do good, whatever you do, do good’.

Genres: Mythology

160 pages, Hardcover

Published September 1, 2022

Reviews

[Csenge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know I have said this before, but here it goes again: you can always tell when a book is written by a professional storyteller. The stories come alive, and they feel like spoken word, rather than text. The stories in this book are all full of vivid imagery, flowing language, and amazing little details that transport us to the Caribbean countries. Woven into their rich texture are local plants, foods, clothes, and rhythms. Some tale types were familiar to me, and others were refreshingly new, but both kinds had a uniquely Caribbean taste, and they reflected the sheer delight the author had in telling them.
I also loved the fact that we got real-life stories mixed in with the folktales: the memories of people from the Windrush Genreration. This part of history was new to me, and reading about it through a personal lens was a privilege. I appreciated the idea of mixing old stories from Caribbean traditions together with the personal stories of people who carried those traditions across the ocean.
Excellent book, I hope the author will write more of them!

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic blend of wind rush stories and Caribbean folktales. Loved most of the stories, they sounded as if they were meant to be spoke aloud. Great read!