Set in a fictional locale in Barbados, The Secrets of Catspraddle Village (Black Coral Publishing) by Callie Browning investigates the mysterious, multifaceted lives of its inhabitants, chronicling events that involve disappearances, deception, and hair-raising escapades. Drawing on the interconnectedness of village life, Browning’s short stories make ample use of Barbadian dialect alongside historical references to notable island events. The Secrets of Catspraddle Village takes both a humourist and introspective approach to its characters’ fates. The author’s previously published books, The Vanishing Girls and The Girl with the Hazel Eyes, explored the challenges and trials facing Caribbean women, particularly those up against patriarchal and sexist odds. 

Mattress Makers (Mawenzi House), the newest collection of poetry by Guyana-born Sasenarine Persaud, recognises the literary achievements of late Caribbean writers such as V.S. Naipaul and Sam Selvon, consequently seeking to offer tribute to them in verse. Many of these poems are concerned with commemorations to honourable ancestors and their traditions, notably the rituals preserved by immigrant labourers to the West Indies. Using explorative and experimental devices, Mattress Makers journeys through time in non-linear fashion to document the psychological conditions of all those who seek an ultimate truth or enlightenment. Persaud’s numerous other collections include Monsoon on the Fingers of God and Lantana Strangling Ixora.

The third in a non-fiction trilogy, Carmody Road (Paria Publishing) by Robin McDonald documents a coming-of-age childhood in St. Augustine, Trinidad, told with both nostalgic humour and a keen sensibility of place. Carmody Road follows Beloved and Archie, memoirs of Robin McDonald’s parents, Thelma Seheult and Archie McDonald, building on the insights and revelations of both books. This latest installment in the series encapsulates Trinidad life in the 1940s and 50s as seen through the eyes of its author, invoking extended family trees, and reflections on what seemed to be simpler times. Carmody Road also includes poems by the author’s brother, award-winning writer Ian McDonald.

No One Will Come Back For Us (Undertow Publications) by Indo-Caribbean scientist and speculative fiction writer Premee Mohamed dives deep into eldritch and sinister elements of storytelling. Influenced by science fiction masters but retaining her own individual style, Mohamed takes the reader into one unsettling situation after another, displaying world-building that partially draws on islander and indigenous mythologies. Ranging from the macabre to the suggestively eerie, the seventeen stories in No One Will Come Back For Us portray a world full of both sanguine and monstruous forces. Mohamed’s full-length dystopian novel, The Siege of Burning Grass, is forthcoming from Solaris/Simon & Schuster in March 2024.

The God of Good Looks (Fig Tree, UK; William Morrow, US) by Breanne Mc Ivor tackles the double-standards of the Trinidadian beauty industry while simultaneously serving up a tantalising love story. Mc Ivor’s novel debut, following her short story collection Where There Are Monsters, employs epistolary narratives laced with satire to illuminate the taboos and troubling fixations lingering just beneath the surface of T&T’s status quo. Perspectives shift between dual protagonists Bianca Bridge and Obadiah Cortland, each caught on diametrically opposed sides of simmering romance and high-stakes makeup. Mc Ivor, herself a professionally trained makeup artist, eschews stereotypes of island idylls in her writing.

A loose revisioning of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, When the Vibe is Right (Balzer & Bray) by Sarah Dass is the author’s second Young Adult romance novel, following her debut Where the Rhythm Takes You. Set in the kaleidoscopic heart of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, When the Vibe is Right follows the entanglements of aspiring costume designer Tess Crawford and social media influencer Brandon Richards. Guided by the enemies-to-lovers trope, the novel emphasises the value of staying true to oneself, while opening one’s heart to positive new experiences. Dass’s third novel, It Waits in the Forest, will be published by Disney Books in 2024.