A Flying Fish Whispered
Beginning as what seems to be a pacy and sexually-charged romantic novel in a tropical setting, this book reveals itself to be an important ‘lost’ work of Caribbean fiction, parallel to the work of fellow Dominicans Phyllis Allfrey and Jean Rhys.
Price
£9.99
Author(s)
Elma Napier
ISBN number
9781845231026
Pages
246
Price
£9.99
Classification
Caribbean Modern Classics
Fiction, Novel
Country setting
Dominica
Publication date
30 Oct 2011

Napier is a writer whose prose sings, whose characters, black and white, live and breathe, and whose main character, Teresa, is engagingly feisty and witty.

But there is much more, for the novel has not only a painterly and ecological vision of the land, but also an acute awareness of different kinds of Caribbeans, between what Sylvia Wynter much later described as the dichotomy of plot (the area of Caribbean space that its people have made their own) and plantation (the zone of industrial exploitation of land and labour). 

Elma Napier's novel, first published in 1938, and reissued here for the first time, is a revelation. Hers is writing that is intensely alive, sensuous in its rich portrayal of the islands fauna and flora, and in the creation of characters who truly breathe.

Elma Napier was born in Scotland in 1892, settled with her family in Dominica in 1932 and became a leading literary and political personality on the island.

Variations

Elma Napier

Elma Napier was born in Scotland in 1892, settled in with her family at Calibishie, Dominica in 1932 and became a wholly committed islander. She quickly became a leading literary and political personality on the island. At the time of settling on the island she was already a published author of one book and a variety of articles and short stories for magazines in Australia and Britain.
View full profile