Patricia Powell

Lowe, an immigrant who flees China in the 1890s to seek a better life in Jamaica, finds adventure, estrangement, scandal, and romance as he becomes the owner of a small shop and plays a role in the building of the Pagoda, a school where Chinese workers le

The Pagoda

With a New Introduction by Edwidge Danticat Me Dying Trial, Patricia Powell's masterful debut novel, establishes her as a major voice in Caribbean literature. Gwennie Augusta Glaspole, a schoolteacher, is trapped in an unhappy marriage and quickly saddled with six children. Gwennie resists Jamaican cultural expectations of playing dutiful wife and mother, struggling in a loveless, often abusive relationship, she eventually relocates to Connecticut. Dealing with issues of religion, sexuality, immigration, domestic violence, and gender inequality, Powell has proven to be "a Generation-X vanguard for the Caribbean literary world" (Boston Magazine), and much more.

Me Dying Trial

"Gwennie lives in a sleepy rural Jamaican backwater. Weighed down by a wayward brood of children and trapped in her unhappy marriage to Walter, she seeks solace in the company of her friends. Soon she is faced with a hard choice: does she flee from her past and the everyday cruelties of family life, or is she to remain a victim of her sense of duty?" "Me Dying Trial is a poignant tale of a woman's response to sudden change. It combines lightness and joie de vivre with an infinite sadness."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

It's 1978, and Dale Singleton is becoming alarmed as his friend, Ian Kaysen, is afflicted with a mysterious and seemingly untreatable illness characterized by pneumonia, lesions, and dementia. This novel of the first days of AIDS is viscerally affecting, as it conveys the shocked puzzlement of those troubled by Ian's condition while simultaneously documenting Jamaican society's struggle to accept the dignity of gay love. Dale's world collapses, yet his experience of being gay in a middle-class culture circumscribed by church, family, and compulsory heterosexuality is hauntingly memorable-and familiar. "

A Small Gathering of Bones

John Cage

Ellsworth Snyder

Works on Paper, 1982-90

Elvehjem Museum of Art

Shitao Huo

Pictorial Posters from the Cultural Revolution

Mao's Graphic Voice

From a major voice in Caribbean literature—this is a story of Gwennie Glaspole, a schoolteacher trapped in an unhappy marriage, fighting to resist Jamaican cultural expectations and for her independence A new edition of the “remarkable first novel” from a major voice in Caribbean literature in the Celebrating Black Women Writers series. Written in modified Jamaican patois, Powell traces the life of Gwennie, a strong woman who plays the role of wife and mother while suffering through a loveless and violently abusive marriage to Walter. Faced with choice of remain a victim to her duties or flee from the cruelties of her everyday life, Gwennie decides to start anew and embrace the pressures of sudden and laudable change. Me Dying Trial ambitiously conveys what goes unspoken—issues regarding identity, homosexuality, religion, and personal afflictions, and how often that strong sense of community holds us back from growing. Powell’s debut solidified her status as “one of the most exciting writers living and writing on the island that is the Caribbean-American hyphen.” (Edwidge Danticat)

"When Winston receives a telegram informing him of his father's imminent death, his decision to return to Jamaica is very reluctant. The memories opened up by his return tell us why. But twenty-five years in the USA without contact with his family has allowed mutual resentments to mature and trapped Winston in the traumas of his childhood. And when he discovers he has a half-sister no one has told him about, his fury knows no bounds. But it is Rosa, his father's outside child, who in the end offers Winston some focus for his feelings. Told through the perspectives of Winston and his estranged brother, Septimus, the novel becomes the story of their attempts to heal the breach between them and become the kind of men who might be able to sustain a loving relationship." --Book Jacket.

The Fullness of Everything

Lowe, an immigrant who flees China in the 1890s to seek a better life in Jamaica, finds adventure, estrangement, scandal, and romance as he becomes the owner of a small shop and plays a role in the building of the Pagoda, a school where Chinese workers learn about their history and are assimilated into Jamaican life. 12,500 first printing. BOMC.

A Novel

Laurie rescues Kenzie, a young colt, from a life of despair and loneliness, and changes his life with love and care.

The Rockin' Horse

Dale's passionate relationship with Nevin is foundering. Hope and despair, jealousy and yearning battle within him. He must confront the antagonism of family, church and society to his homosexuality. A mysterious illness is threatening the gay community of late 1970s Jamaica. When Dale's friends succumb to it, his own isolation increases and he is pushed towards desperate action.

From the author— The Rockin’ Horse is a true story of a pet horse, Kenzie, that lived a remarkable life of love and hope. Kenzie was rescued from a life of despair and loneliness and was loved so much that his life’s journey changed in amazing ways. The family pet was full of fun and tricks, and this prompted the sharing of the story. ……Kenzie’s most amazing trick was when he galloped around the field and ran up to the edge of the fence and stood on his back legs. He made his front legs go up and down as he nodded and tossed his head……… The story relates the life of Kenzie to Jesus, who lifts our lives from loneliness and despair and gives us hope through His amazing grace.

Patricia Powell

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