Sic Transit Wagon and Other Stories

Overview

The stories in this collection move from the all-seeing naïveté of a child narrator trying to make sense of the world of adults, through the consciousness of the child-become-mother, to the mature perceptions of the older woman taking stock of her life. Set over a timespan from colonial-era Trinidad to the hazards and alarms of its postcolonial present, these stories have, at their core, the experience of uncomfortable change, but seen with a developing sense of its constancy as part of life, and the need for acceptance. The stories deal with the vulnerabilities and shames of a childhood of poverty; the pain of being let down; glimpses of the secret lives of adults; betrayals in love; the temptations of possessiveness; conflicts between the desire for belonging and independence; and the devastation of loss through illness, dementia, and death. What brings each of these not uncommon situations to fresh and vivid life is the quality of the writing: the shape of the stories, the unerring capturing of the rhythms of the voice and a way of seeing that includes a saving sense of humor and the absurd and also delights in the characters that people these stories.

Reviews

“You cannot ignore these stories. They move us to tears, to laughter and to an awareness of a fast changing Trinidad, a microcosm of the world. Barbara Jenkins is a new and startling voice.”  —Lawrence Scott, author, Light Falling on Bamboo

“Barbara Jenkins demonstrates a deep knowledge of humanity and a keen sense of observation. Her style is urbane and accessible. Her prose is controlled and appropriately modulated. Her vision is humanistic.”  —Funso Aiyejina, author, The Legend of the Rockhills and Other Stories

Author Biography

Barbara Jenkins is an award-winning writer of short stories, garnering the Commonwealth Short Story Prize Caribbean Region; the Wasafiri New Writing Prize; the Canute Brodhurst Prize for short fiction; the Small Axe short story competition; and the My African Diaspora Short Story Contest, romance category.