Product Description

Men will want you like they want a glass of rum…One man will love you. But you won’t love him. You will destroy his life. The one you love will break your heart in two.

So says the soothsayer, when predicting young Celia’s future. Raised in the tropics of Tobago by an aunt she loves and an uncle she fears, Celia has never felt that she belonged. When her uncle–a man the neighbors call Allah because he thinks himself mightier than God–does something unforgivable, Celia escapes to the bustling capital city.

There she quickly embraces her burgeoning independence, but her search for a place to call home is soon complicated by an affectionate friendship with William, a thoughtful gardener, and a strong sexual tension with her employer. All too quickly, Celia finds herself fulfilling the soothsayer’s predictions and living a life of tangled desperation–trapped between the man who offers her passion and the one who offers his heart.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #234558 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-30
• Released on: 2009-06-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780307460646
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
In Smyth's enchanting debut, set in Black Rock, Tobago, young protagonist Celia D'Abadie searches for traces of her absent lineage—the mother who died in childbirth and the white father reputed to live in England. Raised by her aunt Tassi in the shadow of fear cast by her lecherous uncle, Roman, Celia is given a prophetic glimpse into her future from Mrs. Jeremiah, the village seer. At 16, Celia flees after Roman rapes her, and en route to Trinidad, she meets William Shamiel. Under the guidance of William's family, Celia secures a job working as a maid for Dr. Emmanuel Rodriguez, his fragile English wife, Helen, and their two children. Celia moves into their dysfunctional home and balances relationships with two men vying for her affection. As Celia and her employer become closer, Helen's dramatic descent into madness becomes more apparent. While the story line—naïve boonies dweller moves to big city and learns about life and love—has been done a million times, Smyth's deftly captured tropical landscape and superstitions are enough of a tweak to keep things interesting. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"The Caribbean's tropical sights and smells permeate Smyth's moving debut novel, but all is not paradise…Smyth paints a vivid portrait of a naive young girl who learns some hard truths about herself and her family, but though Celia's story is not always happy, it's arresting and powerful, a shining testament to human resilience.“
—The Miami Herald

"Like Alice Walker, Smyth vividly and empathetically re-creates the gender and racial tensions in a culture’s past, making them newly relevant. Smyth is so attuned to the texture and flavor of Caribbean life, and she mimics the island patois so well.”
—ELLE

“[An] enchanting debut….Smyth’s deftly captured tropical landscape and superstitions….keep things interesting.”
—Publishers Weekly

"A remarkably assured debut, written in a controlled yet vibrant and beautiful prose that makes as much of the heart-stopping landscape of Trinidad as it does the cast of characters who inhabit the novel. A worthy relative of Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea."
– Mslexia magazine

“Smyth writes entrancingly on tropical heat and light, indolence, vengeance and desire.”
– The Guardian

“Smyth is Irish-Trinidadian, and her writing is as lushly beautiful as the landscape she describes - it's the kind of novel that leaves your head filled with gorgeous pictures.”
– Times (London)

Certain novels are alive with color. Written in lush, lyrical language evocative of its tropical setting, Amanda Smyth's Lime Tree Can’t Bear Orange is awash with bougainvillea, parakeets, blue crabs, manicous, rum, coconuts and obeah folk magic...Smyth's debut is an absorbing and morally complex read with a bittersweet twist at the end.
– Financial Times

“A captivating read.”...

Review
"The Caribbean's tropical sights and smells permeate Smyth's moving debut novel, but all is not paradise…Smyth paints a vivid portrait of a naive young girl who learns some hard truths about herself and her family, but though Celia's story is not always happy, it's arresting and powerful, a shining testament to human resilience.“
—The Miami Herald

"Like Alice Walker, Smyth vividly and empathetically re-creates the gender and racial tensions in a culture’s past, making them newly relevant. Smyth is so attuned to the texture and flavor of Caribbean life, and she mimics the island patois so well.”
—ELLE

“[An] enchanting debut….Smyth’s deftly captured tropical landscape and superstitions….keep things interesting.”
—Publishers Weekly

"A remarkably assured debut, written in a controlled yet vibrant and beautiful prose that makes as much of the heart-stopping landscape of Trinidad as it does the cast of characters who inhabit the novel. A worthy relative of Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea."
– Mslexia magazine

“Smyth writes entrancingly on tropical heat and light, indolence, vengeance and desire.”
– The Guardian

“Smyth is Irish-Trinidadian, and her writing is as lushly beautiful as the landscape she describes - it's the kind of novel that leaves your head filled with gorgeous pictures.”
– Times (London)

Certain novels are alive with color. Written in lush, lyrical language evocative of its tropical setting, Amanda Smyth's Lime Tree Can’t Bear Orange is awash with bougainvillea, parakeets, blue crabs, manicous, rum, coconuts and obeah folk magic...Smyth's debut is an absorbing and morally complex read with a bittersweet twist at the end.
– Financial Times

“A captivating read.”
– Irish Times

“Compelling…it sings with life, texture, and verve.”
— Daily Mail

“[An] engaging debut…the prose sways along through an exotic landscape of swamp crabs, magic charms, breadfruit trees, Frangipani, Bay Rum and Calypso music.”
– Harper’s Bazaar UK

“Amanda Smyth's debut novel is an intricately told tale about the search for belonging and love…Smyth's beautifully vivid descriptions of lush plantations, glistening horizons and wide, open bays draw you into Celia's journey…Stunning and moving.”
— Scotsman

“Smyth is a skilful ventriloquist; the local patois is energetically conjured, and the narrative pace is gripping. In painterly images, Smyth evocatively shows more than she tells...a vivid and compelling story.”
- Independent

Customer Reviews

Depressing yet beautiful
Celia has never known her parents. Her Aunt Tassi tells her that her mother died in childbirth, and her father, an Englishman, went back to England. And so the only home Celia has known is the modest home of her Aunt Tassi in Tobago. She lives there with her annoying younger twin cousins Vera and Violet, and to make matters worse, Aunt Tassi marries an alcoholic named Roman who makes her uncomfortable.

Celia has a lot of potential. She's pretty and smart. Her school teacher tells her she should plan to go to university - that she can be anything she wants to be, but when step uncle Roman corners her alone at home one day, Celia knows she can't stay there any longer.

She runs away to Trinidad, with the intention of finding her Aunt Sula, who has visited her a few times in Tobago. In Trinidad, she eventually comes to believe her luck has changed when she finds a job caring for the children of a doctor and his wife, but soon she is forced into an affair which threatens to rip apart a family, and break her heart.

The writing in this novel is beautiful and even those who have never been to this part of the world, will be able to picture it as if they grew up there. The author did well to create a main character who is not perfect, (and thus not at all boring), but with whom you easily empathize with. Over all the story is depressing, but the ending is optimistic enough that you close the book satisfied.

fun character tale

In Black Rock, Tobago, half-breed Celia D'Abadie's mom died giving birth to her while her absentee Caucasian father deserted her to return to his home in Southampton, England. Her maternal Aunt Tassi raises her lovingly. Everything is great until Tassi marries Roman. He is abusive and ever leering and stalking Celia. When she is sixteen, her uncle rapes her.

Celia flees her home for Trinidad where she meets William Shamiel. He and his family take the teen into their home. She obtains work as a maid to the family of Dr. Emmanuel Rodriguez. His English wife Helen is mentally on the verge of collapse as everything sends her to hysteria while his two kids are precocious when mom is not around. However, the move to Port of Spain that starts off uplifting soon turns ugly too for Celia.

Celia and the locale of Trinidad-Tobago refresh the often told tale of a naive young country bumpkin forced to come of age rather quickly in the city. The teen's adventures on both islands bring them to life for the reader as Amanda Smyth escorts her audience beyond the tourist sections to the heart of the islands. Celia is terrific as a hybrid who has always felt like an outsider with no protector from male predators though her aunt tries somewhat. Though the plot is somewhat thin, fans will enjoy Celia's quest to find a place where she feels she can sleep at night safe and secure and as important to her well being knows where she belongs in life.

Harriet Klausner