{"title":"Celeste Mohammed","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"pleasantview-book-celeste-mohammed-9781913090890","title":"Pleasantview","description":"Winner of the 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for Fiction.  Shortlisted for the Society of Authors' McKitterick Prize 2022.  Finalist of the 2022 Firecracker Award in Fiction.  Coconut trees. Carnival. Rum and coke. To many outsiders, these and other sunny images are all they know about life in the Caribbean. However, if you want to learn how the locals truly live and experience the dark and often harrowing truths that lurk behind the idyllic imagery of Caribbean culture, then come visit the town of Pleasantview.  Come during election season, and see how one candidate sets out to slaughter endangered turtles - just for fun. Or come on the day the other candidate beats his \"outside-woman,\" so badly she ends up losing their baby. Then come on the night of the political rally, where this grieving woman exacts a very public revenge. Stay a while, and see how this single event has a trajectory far beyond the lives of the immediate actors, with often tragic and heartbreaking consequences.  Written in a remarkable combination of Standard English and Trinidad Creole, Pleasantview showcases the entrenched political, racial, and class dichotomies of life in Trinidad: the generosity (yet cruelty) of the average Trini; the sense of optimism (and yet, despair) which permeates everyday interaction; and the musicality of Caribbean creole (kriol) expression that masks an ingrained and frequently violent patriarchy.  Merging the vibrancy and darkness of recent Caribbean writers such as Ingrid Persaud and Claire Adam with the linguistic experimentation of Marlon James's A Brief History of Seven Killings, Pleasantview is a landmark work in international fiction.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49740357435665,"sku":"NGR9781913090890","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50495790809361,"sku":"GOR012493449","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52996793270545,"sku":"GOR014687685","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1913090892.jpg?v=1766139602"},{"product_id":"pleasantview-book-celeste-mohammed-9781913090913","title":"Pleasantview","description":"Winner of the 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for Fiction.  Shortlisted for the Society of Authors' McKitterick Prize 2022.  Finalist of the 2022 Firecracker Award in Fiction.  Coconut trees. Carnival. Rum and coke. To many outsiders, these and other sunny images are all they know about life in the Caribbean. However, if you want to learn how the locals truly live and experience the dark and often harrowing truths that lurk behind the idyllic imagery of Caribbean culture, then come visit the town of Pleasantview.  Come during election season, and see how one candidate sets out to slaughter endangered turtles - just for fun. Or come on the day the other candidate beats his \"outside-woman,\" so badly she ends up losing their baby. Then come on the night of the political rally, where this grieving woman exacts a very public revenge. Stay a while, and see how this single event has a trajectory far beyond the lives of the immediate actors, with often tragic and heartbreaking consequences.  Written in a remarkable combination of Standard English and Trinidad Creole, Pleasantview showcases the entrenched political, racial, and class dichotomies of life in Trinidad: the generosity (yet cruelty) of the average Trini; the sense of optimism (and yet, despair) which permeates everyday interaction; and the musicality of Caribbean creole (kriol) expression that masks an ingrained and frequently violent patriarchy.  Merging the vibrancy and darkness of recent Caribbean writers such as Ingrid Persaud and Claire Adam with the linguistic experimentation of Marlon James's A Brief History of Seven Killings, Pleasantview is a landmark work in international fiction.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49743269789969,"sku":"NGR9781913090913","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50267253440785,"sku":"GOR012825632","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50560357925137,"sku":"GOR013437051","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52765718184209,"sku":"GOR014611193","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53508290674961,"sku":"GOR014951701","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1913090914.jpg?v=1751380672"},{"product_id":"pleasantview-book-celeste-mohammed-9781632462022","title":"Pleasantview","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the 2022 CLMP Firecracker Award for Fiction\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"As James Joyce did for Dublin, Celeste Mohamed holds up a polished mirror to the inhabitants of the fictitious Trinidadian town of Pleasantview and dares the reader to take an unflinching look at a multi-ethnic society that is vibrant and joyous but riddled with corruption and the exploitation of women, the young, and the vulnerable. Mohamed's writing is smart, funny, and enlivened by everyday Trinidadian vernacular, creating rich and lively portraits of a range of Trini characters. A formidable debut, \u003ci\u003ePleasantview's\u003c\/i\u003e razor-sharp observations of misogyny and the abuse of power are leavened by humor and a pitch-perfect ear for the language of human.\"--\u003cb\u003eTony Eprile\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCoconut trees. Carnival. Rum and coke. To many outsiders, these idyllic images represent the so-called easy life in Caribbean nations such as Trinidad and Tobago. However, the reality is far different for those who live there--a society where poverty and patriarchy savagely rule, and where love and revenge often go hand in hand.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWritten in a combination of English and Trinidad Creole, \u003ci\u003ePleasantview\u003c\/i\u003e reveals the dark side of the Caribbean dream. In this novel-in-stories about a fictional town in Trinidad, we meet a political candidate who sets out to slaughter endangered turtles for fun, while his rival candidate beats his \"outside woman\" so badly she ends up losing their baby. On the night of a political rally, the abused woman exacts a very public revenge, the trajectory of which echoes through Pleasantview, ending with one boy introducing another boy to a gun and to an ideology which will help him aim the weapon.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"In one of Chekhov's stories, a character says that every happy man should have someone who taps at his door with a little hammer, reminding him that there are unhappy people in the world. Reading Celeste Mohammed's novel-in-stories makes me think of that magical little tap - except that the door opens not to a vision of unhappiness, but to a world crammed with life that you never knew existed.\"--\u003cb\u003eClaire Adam\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"The residents of Pleasantview come to vivid light in this extraordinary debut from Celeste Mohammed. Each slice of life in this Trinidadian village cuts clean to the bone, revealing how people are both complicated and complicit in the way we break each other's hearts and bodies. From the riveting opening to the aching end, Mohammed's gift for giving voice to each character is glorious.\"--\u003cb\u003eTracey Baptiste\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003ePleasantview\u003c\/i\u003eoffers the reader a sharp and fearless view of the dark underbelly of life in Trinidad, filled with unforgettable characters that we meet in do-or-die situations. Marked by male violence, political underhandedness, and economic desperation, \u003ci\u003ePleasantview\u003c\/i\u003e also demonstrates Mohamed's remarkable range as a writer as she moves seamlessly from callousness to tenderness, humor to sorrow, lyricism to minimalism in work that lingers in the reader's mind long after the final page. This is a thrilling debut.\"--\u003cb\u003eLaurie Foos\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"These stories are full of unexpected twists and connections and infused with humour. They herald the arrival of an intriguing new voice.\"--\u003cb\u003eIngrid Persaud\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Celeste Mohamed forces you to travel with her characters. You see their lives and their world as they do, on foot. You walk in her characters' shoes. Mohamed is a skillful storyteller, so the journey educates and exhilarates you, Mohamed invents a clear, crackling town\/district, Pleasantview, a bustling, hustling side of Trinidad, where few of us have ever been, or will ever go. \u003ci\u003ePleasantview\u003c\/i\u003e forces us to look at how we behave when uncontained, when unconstrained, when our lack of morality unmoors us.\"--\u003cb\u003eA.J. 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It sounds a call for a more diverse, inclusive and equitable development of one of the world's most male-dominated domains: the oil and gas industry.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOver the last decade, as global energy has become hyper-focused on the Southern Caribbean, the role and opinions of local women have too often been overlooked. In this compelling, first-of-its-kind book, award-winning lawyer-turned-writer Celeste Mohammed remedies that omission.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn powerful, eye-opening portraits of eight Trini, Surinamese and Guyanese women who are employed in the Caribbean oil and gas industry, Mohammed uses a range of styles to keep the gender conversation refreshingly candid, often humorous, and always thought-provoking.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith a voice both earnest and confiding, intellectual and intimate, this book's commentary and analysis extract from the women's stories lessons for any woman seeking to defy odds, shatter stereotypes, and forge paths in a business culture which underestimates her.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51066448150801,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51066451394833,"sku":"NIN9789768291943","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/976829194X.jpg?v=1751000948"},{"product_id":"ever-since-we-small-book-celeste-mohammed-9781914344947","title":"Ever Since We Small","description":"From 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature Fiction Winner, Ever Since We Small is an intricately woven tapestry of stories where survival, resilience and self-discovery are passed down through generations of an Indo-Trinidadian family.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51624417198353,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51624418181393,"sku":"NGR9781914344947","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52620958400785,"sku":"GOR014564734","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53456635068689,"sku":"GOR014930007","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1914344944.jpg?v=1766657004"},{"product_id":"ever-since-we-small-book-celeste-mohammed-9781632461766","title":"Ever Since We Small","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn intricately woven tapestry of stories where survival, resilience and self-discovery are passed down through several generations of an Indo-Trinidadian family, \u003ci\u003eEver Since We Small \u003c\/i\u003eis a sweeping epic that takes us from the days of the British Raj in India to multicultural modern Trinidad\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWritten in a blend of Standard English and several flavors of Trinidad \u003ci\u003ekriol\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eEver Since We Small\u003c\/i\u003e follows the bloodline of a young woman, Jayanti, following her decision to become a \u003ci\u003egirmitiya\u003c\/i\u003e, an indentured laborer in the Caribbean. The generational after-effects of this decision are seen in the lives of Jayanti's grandson, Lall, who seeks to escape the rural village where he was born, but instead becomes seduced and corrupted by urban life, and sis son, Shiva, who is forced to take a child-bride, Salma, but never recovers from the guilt. Heartache then follows for their three children, who must each find a way to accept and yet move past their parents' failed example.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAlong the journey of these ten interconnected stories, the alchemy necessary to turn the family's inheritance of pain into a \"generation of gold\" requires intervention by the living and dead, the \"real\" and the mythical, the mundane and the magical, the secular and the sacred.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52968606597393,"sku":"NIN9781632461766","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53476579737873,"sku":"CIN1632461765G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781632461766.jpg?v=1768471126"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-au\/collections\/author-books-by-celeste-mohammed.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}