Book Review: A Trace of Sun by Pam Williams

 

About:

‘Don’t go Mammy please.’ Stuttered words filled her ears, sent frissons of guilt through her as she bent over him; held him to her thumping chest. Tears sliding from her face to his.Raef is left behind in Grenada when his mother, Cilla, follows her husband to England in search of a better life. When they are finally reunited seven years later, they are strangers – and the emotional impact of the separation leads to events that rip their family apart. As they try to move forward with their lives, his mother’s secret will make Raef question all he’s ever known of who he is.

A Trace of Sun is, in part, inspired by the author’s own family experiences.

My Thoughts

This book was interesting to me for a number of reasons. First, some of the best Caribbean novels for me are the ones that speak to migration. In A Trace of Sun we meet Cilla, from Grenada who is patiently waiting for the day that her husband sends for her and the kids to join him in England. When the letter comes she is excited, however upon realizing that she had to leave her eight year old son Raef behind meets her with sadness. Raef could not understand why his younger brother Davey and not him could go.

The second thing I loved about this book is how the story follows the family from the 1960s all the way to the 1990s. We experience their triumphs and many sorrows as they navigate life in a foreign land. This aspect of the book was well written.

Raef's character was a lot to deal with. The reader really felt for him. I also felt for Luci the younger sister and Cilla. This family grappled with a lot. And the explosive secret really added to the intrigue of this family saga.

All in all it was a good book.