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Tag Archives: Under the Tamarind Tree: A Novel by Rosaliene Bacchus

The Writer’s Life: Self-Publishing My Second Novel

06 Sunday Jun 2021

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in The Writer's Life

≈ 76 Comments

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Adobe Acrobat PDF files, Bible in the Public Domain, Book Cover Master Template, Copyright Page, Cover-to-Cover Interior Master Template, ISBN barcode, Library of Congress Control Number, Microsoft Word Headers and Footers for book designers, Self-Publishing with Lulu, The Twisted Circle: A Novel by Rosaliene Bacchus, Under the Tamarind Tree: A Novel by Rosaliene Bacchus

Frustrated – Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

On Tuesday, June 1st, after I failed to access my business e-mail account at rosalienebacchus.com, I called Tech Support. My tone must have been belligerent, because the guy at the other end of the line kept saying, “I’m trying to help you, Ma’am.” I snapped when he told me to download the Google Chrome browser. Another browser was the last thing I needed. I refused to comply and ended the call.

How wrong I was to believe that I was coping well with my frustrations over the past seven weeks!

Following my action plan, I contacted Lulu Publishing on April 15th to begin the self-publication process of my second novel, The Twisted Circle. Their reply was devastating. The One-on-One Author Support Plan that I had used when publishing my debut novel, Under the Tamarind Tree, ended in July 2020. I assume that this service was yet another victim of the 2020 pandemic lock-down.

It took me a week to get my bearings. The prospect of working with another self-publishing service provider was not at all appealing. Besides, I am very satisfied with the services that Lulu provides for the global distribution and sales control of my first novel, Under the Tamarind Tree. I made my decision: I would proceed on my own with the help of Lulu’s Book Creation Guide. Their Knowledge Base also provides helpful resources throughout the process.

During my years working in international trade, the computer and I have had a shaky relationship. I mastered only the essential. Book design and production demand new software skills. I can do this, I reassured myself. Just take one step at a time at my own pace. No pressure.

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Under the Tamarind Tree – a Review by Trev Sue-A-Quan

05 Thursday Sep 2019

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Reviews - Under the Tamarind Tree: A Novel by Rosaliene Bacchus

≈ 25 Comments

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Book Review by Trev Sue-A-Quan, Chinese in Guyana: Their Roots, Under the Tamarind Tree: A Novel by Rosaliene Bacchus

Under the Tamarind Tree is a story of outsider influences. Richard Cheong, the main character, finds himself influenced by attitudes and events beyond his control. There is an outside child in the family – a boy whose very existence causes a divide between family members. Some are filled with resentment that this male child could be receiving financial benefits and privileges that are traditionally retained within a nuclear family. The animosity among some siblings leads to actions of a life-threatening nature. Richard himself perpetuates some of the conflicts by tenuously holding on to the glorious tradition of fathering a son of his own. With this objective entrenched in his mind, his wife Gloria gives birth to a fourth child but he dies at childbirth and this results in considerable friction within his family.

Through their ancestries, Richard and Gloria carry the customs and religious beliefs from five of the six peoples that constitute the country of Guyana. These diverse tenets lead to decisions by individuals that are difficult for even their closest loved ones to accept. A child’s wish to change religion brings intolerance from parents. The mother bearing an out-of-wedlock child is rejected by her family, while the sacredness of marriage is questioned when a partner feels that true love for an outsider overrules the stigma of adultery.

Adding to the contradictions among family members, the Cheongs find themselves caught in a greater conflict arising from the political changes leading to the country’s independence from Britain. The leaders of the political parties rally support based on racial and economic interests. Their influences result in some serious racial clashes between the people of African and East Indian heritage, representing the vast majority of the population. Even friends and family members of the Cheongs are instigators or perpetrators of violence, as well as being victims. Although standing as outsiders, Britain, as the presiding colonial power, and the United States, as the regional superpower, bring pressure to influence the direction that an independent Guyana would take, with determination that it should not become a country with a communist ideology.

Through these multiple influences, Richard and Gloria Cheong are challenged by both their individual set of values and the unfolding events that affect their family and business affairs. Under the Tamarind Tree weaves an intricate account of human interactions based on a personal, family-based, religious and national themes and is one with a uniquely Guyanese flavor.

 

Trev Sue-A-Quan was born in Georgetown, Guyana and attended Queen’s College. In 1969 he gained his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham, England. Besides his engineering career he has researched historical events related to Chinese immigration to Guyana. Based on his findings he has written three books describing the history of the Chinese Guyanese, covering their initial arrival as indentured laborers in the mid-19th century, their adaptation as residents in the new land and the experiences of their descendants as migrants to other countries. Trev now resides in Vancouver, Canada.
Learn More: Chinese in Guyana: Their Roots

 


Dear Reader, my debut novel, Under the Tamarind Tree, is now available at Rosaliene’s Store on Lulu.com and other book retailers at Amazon, BAM! Book-A-Million, Barnes and Noble, Book Depository, and Indie Bound.
Learn more about Under the Tamarind Tree at Rosaliene’s writer’s website.

Book Release – Under the Tamarind Tree: A Novel

12 Monday Aug 2019

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Under the Tamarind Tree: A Novel by Rosaliene Bacchus

≈ 25 Comments

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British Guiana, Caribbean Fiction, Divisive racist politics, Family saga, Multicultural Fiction, Tamarind tree, Under the Tamarind Tree: A Novel by Rosaliene Bacchus

Tamarind Tree with Fruits
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

 

The day is finally here. Today is the day I send my debut novel out into the world. It has been a long journey: four years in its conception and another five years in failing to find it a home. During the years of rejection from the guardians of the publishing world, I held onto the hope that Under the Tamarind Tree would enter the world when its time had come. Guyana, the setting for the novel, is now facing a constitutional crisis. In my adopted homeland, divisive racist politics is becoming the norm. Across our planet, gang violence and never-ending wars are driving families from their ancestral homes.

At the heart of Under the Tamarind Tree is the loss and pain that violence brings into our lives. In the United States, mass shootings by lone gunmen are devastating our communities, with little to no response from our law makers. The life of the protagonist, Richard Cheong, is changed forever when his younger brother, then eight years old, was shot to death under a tamarind tree. For Richard, the tamarind tree—a vengeful judge—becomes the personification of his guilt for not keeping his younger brother safe. His inconsolable mother’s death, shortly thereafter, had compounded his guilt. Her spirit haunted him.

Sometimes, she called out his name in the quiet of the night while he stretched out in his Berbice-chair listening to music. She often visited him in his dreams, drenched and shivering. Her chocolate-brown hair, caked with mud, draped down her back to her waist. She drowned him in her grief. (Prologue 1) Continue reading →

Quote

Book Review: Under The Tamarind Tree by Rosaliene Bacchus — Ken Puddicombe -Writer

04 Sunday Aug 2019

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Reviews - Under the Tamarind Tree: A Novel by Rosaliene Bacchus

≈ 76 Comments

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Book Review, Caribbean Fiction, Guyanese-Canadian Artist Joan Bryan-Muss, Guyanese-Canadian Author Ken Puddicombe, Multicultural Fiction, Under the Tamarind Tree: A Novel by Rosaliene Bacchus

 

Great news! I’ve received the first review of my debut novel, Under the Tamarind Tree, soon to be released. The reviewer, Guyana-born Ken Puddicombe, is the author of three historical novels Racing With the Rain (2012), Junta (2014), and Down Independence Boulevard & Other Stories (2017). He lives in Toronto, Canada, where he owns and runs a small press.

Do check out his review.

COVER ART BY GUYANESE-CANADIAN ARTIST JOAN BRYAN-MUSS

 

UNDER THE TAMARIND TREE Copyright 2019 By Rosaliene Bacchus 284 pgs Published by Lulu Press, Inc. USA Review by Ken Puddicombe The fruit of the Tamarind Tree holds a puzzling allure to people in the tropics, its tangy and acidic fruit devoured obsessively, even as it stimulates the taste buds with spasms of unpleasantness […]

via Book Review: Under The Tamarind Tree by Rosaliene Bacchus — Ken Puddicombe -Writer

Divisive Racist Politics: Will America Survive?

21 Sunday Jul 2019

Posted by Rosaliene Bacchus in Guyana, United States

≈ 64 Comments

Tags

America's Refugee Debacle, Divisive racist politics, ExxonMobil/Guyana, Guyana’s Constitutional Crisis 2019, Politics, The One Percent, Under the Tamarind Tree: A Novel by Rosaliene Bacchus, US President "Send Her Back" Rally, Will America Survive?, Will Guyana Survive? by Sara Bharrat

“Send Her Back” – US President’s Campaign Rally – North Carolina/USA – July 17, 2019
Photo Credit: HuffPost, YouTube Video

 

I know about divisive racist politics. I have experienced it up close in Guyana, the land of my birth—one of the “shithole countries” that our president loves to denigrate. Divisive racist politics has crippled my birthplace over the past fifty-three years since its birth as an independent nation. As a multiracial woman, I know firsthand the ways in which hate, rancor, fear, and distrust can splinter families, communities, and relationships in public spaces, such as our schools and workplaces.

Caught up in what Guyanese call “the racial disturbances”—during the years leading up to independence in May 1966, between the two major population groups of descendants of African slaves and Indian indentured laborers—I became a marginalized citizen. Beginning in adolescence, I learned to navigate the racial minefields, to dodge and take the blows.

In my debut novel, Under the Tamarind Tree, to be released in the coming months, I tackle the roots of Guyana’s divisive racist politics and its impact on the lives of my racially diverse characters. You can learn more about my motivations for setting out on this literary journey in my article “The Making of Under the Tamarind Tree.”

While the chant rose to “send her back,” during a recent presidential campaign rally, America’s transnational corporations are sucking Earth’s natural resources from all those “broken and crime infested places from which they [non-white immigrants] came.”

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