Pepperpot: Best New Stories from the Caribbean

By Olive Senior

"This wonderful anthology of fresh voices from the Caribbean includes writers from Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. The diverse textures of the stories by 13 established and new authors weave a tapestry of the islands, water, sand, ocean breeze, and rum. Vivid settings serve as backdrops for a dazzling display of personalities."
--Booklist

"The wonder in these stories is that they show Caribbean culture--the people, sounds, food, and music...this book will appeal to readers of Caribbean fiction and beyond."
--Library Journal

"One of my favorite reads of the last few months...sophisticated and engrossing...A big recommendation today for one and all."
--Chicago Center for Literature & Photography

"[Pepperpot] leaps headfirst into audacious narrative water, sustaining a diversity in storytelling that's indicative of the panoply of ways to love, sin, and write about it, in these our unpredictable, conjoined societies."
--Caribbean Beat Magazine

"Readers are in for a treat when they open the pages to taste the mélange of literary Caribbean cuisine. Spicy and filling!"
--The Gleaner (Jamaica), "Sizzling Books for Summer Reading"

"If you want a masterclass in how to start your stories with a bang, this is the book for you....This is an exciting and heartening book. It proves--if anyone was in any doubt--that the Caribbean has plenty of homegrown literary talent to draw upon."
--A Year of Reading the World (Book of the Month for August 2014)

"Take Pepperpot along on vacation. It's an ideal summer read."
--La Bloga

"Pepperpot is an eclectic mix of adventure, humor, the spirit world, family relationships, and other subject matters which gives you something to think about."
--Ski-wee's Book Corner

Featuring a preface by Olive Senior.

Includes the 2013 Commonwealth Prize-winning story "The Whale House" by Sharon Millar.

Akashic Books and Peepal Tree Press, two of the foremost publishers of Caribbean literature, launch a joint Caribbean-focused imprint, Peekash Press, with this anthology. Consisting entirely of brand-new stories by authors living in the region (not simply authors from the region), this collection gathers the very best entries to the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, including a mix of established and up-and-coming writers from islands throughout the Caribbean.

Featuring these brand-new stories:

"The Whale House" by Sharon Millar (Trinidad & Tobago)
"A Good Friday" by Barbara Jenkins (Trinidad & Tobago)
"Reversal of Fortunes" by Kevin Baldeosingh (Trinidad & Tobago)
"The Monkey Trap" by Kevin Hosein (Trinidad & Tobago)
"The Science of Salvation" by Dwight Thompson (Jamaica)
"Waywardness" by Ezekel Alan (Jamaica)
"Berry" by Kimmisha Thomas (Jamaica)
"Father, Father" by Garfield Ellis (Jamaica)
"All the Secret Things No-One Ever Knows" by Sharon Leach (Jamaica)
"This Thing We Call Love" by Ivory Kelly (Belize)
"And the Virgin's Name Was Leah" by Heather Barker (Barbados)
"Amelia" by Joanne Hillhouse (Antigua & Barbuda)
"Mango Summer" by Janice Lynn Mather (Bahamas)

and others!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peekash Press
• Release date: Mar 31, 2014
• ISBN: 9781617752834

Olive Senior

Olive Senior is the Poet Laureate of Jamaica 2021–24. She is the award-winning author of twenty books of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and children's literature and other published work. Her many awards include Canada's Writers Trust Matt Cohen Award for Lifetime Achievement, the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, the Commonwealth Writers Prize, an honorary doctorate from the University of the West Indies and the Gold Medal of the Institute of Jamaica. Her work has been adapted for radio and stage, translated into many languages and is taught internationally. Olive Senior is from Jamaica and lives in Toronto, Canada, but returns frequently to the Caribbean which remains central to her work.

Reviews for Pepperpot

[a_musing · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Any collection of stories from the myriad of cultures that make up the Caribbean is bound to be uneven, and uneven these are; yet, there is in them a life and a warmth that makes them an unusually pleasing collection (perhaps more pleasing, for example, than the annual collection of American stories from the usual magazines that makes its way to the front of every American Barnes & Nobel). The stories begin to get warmed up with "The Whale House", a story of loss and sadness where the people and the Islands seem equally besieged by the sea. The language occasionally rises to the poetic, but struggles in a few places, but the story and the characters carry it forward. From here a world of ghosts and shanties and resorts opens up; always, in each story, within sight of the sea. A number of the good stories in this collection are quite good; perhaps the one thing it lacks is just one truly extraordinary story, just one that might join those few timeless stories we all know. However, it is a successful introduction to a wide range of gifted and promising authors, and it is well worth spending an afternoon by some shore drifting in these pages.

[sigmundfraud · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pepperpot: Best New Stories from the Caribbean is a collection of stories set in the Caribbean as is apparent from the title. If you like time, place and setting you will love this book. I particularly like the feel of a place exotic to me and this book offered that in spades. Most of the stories are excellent. It is worth a detour. I highly recommend it.

[jennybhatt · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is definitely an interesting collection of stories and gives a deep and varied flavor of the Caribbean, with all its diversity and beauty.That said, like a few others have mentioned in these reviews, the literary quality of the individual stories also varied greatly. I struggled to get through at least 4-5 of them.I do hope that this new venture, Peekash Press, will continue forward with more such anthologies because this one, being the first, was possibly a testing of the waters. And, as such, I'd still recommend it to readers interested in Caribbean literature and life. There is definitely a sense of having immersed oneself into new worlds on emerging from the reading experience.

[mtbearded1_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Rich in violence, poverty, and sex, Pepperpot's thirteen stories reflect the culture of the English speaking Caribbean, from Belize to Antigua and Barbuda. These are not stories designed to please the tourist bureaus in the various nations represented, nor do they reflect the world seen from the safe confines of a Sandals resort. They are, however, a faithful representation of life in these British Commonwealth lands. If you're interested in how people really live, by all means pick up a copy.

[jasonpettus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

[Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography (cclapcenter.com). I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.]I have to confess, I would've never thought of picking up anthology of contemporary Caribbean writing on my own, if I hadn't been sent one by our pals at the always excellent Akashic Books; but now that I've read through said volume, Pepperpot: Best New Stories from the Caribbean, I must admit that it's so far been one of my favorite reads of the last few months, a surprisingly sophisticated and engrossing compilation that I tore through in just a couple of days. Not nearly the "singing natives in colorful dresses and their magical-realism adventures" anthology that Americans might expect from the subject (although there are a few stories like that in here), this is the entire point of a Caribbean anthology edited by actual Caribbeans, that it instead veers into tales of wealth and corporate espionage, quiet family dramas, and the other kinds of tropes that rarely get a chance to be showcased when it's white people writing about people of color in exotic lands, an illuminating slice of life that present a full range of experiences of what it must be like to live in this tropical and often troubled part of the world. In fact, about my only complaint is that the stories themselves hail from only six of the thirty nations and sovereign states that make up this region, and it would've been nice to see a wider range of representation; but I gotta say, what did get included is really great stuff, an eye-opening and entertaining read that is well worth your time. A big recommendation today for one and all.Out of 10: 9.3

[michaelg16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Like the marvelously spicy stew it is named for, these lovely warm stories emanating from Caribbean authors are various and unique but come together as a delicious treat. Having spent a good deal of time working in Jamaica, I immediately felt the familiar language of these tales seeping in to my mind and memory evoking desires long dormant. I can't judge if this collection would be as powerful to a reader unfamiliar with these spaces and lands yet I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to any reader anywhere.

[esta1923 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Early Reviewer Pepperpot, Best New Stories from the Caribbean"Armchair travelers," those who yearn for foreign adventures but cannot leave home, often satisfy their cravings by reading travel books and eating the ethnic foods of faraway lands.With their new book, "Pepperpot," Akashic Books and Peepal Press give us an opportunity to share stories the people of the Caribbean region are writing and reading. Olive Senior provides a splendid preface to their thirteen stories. "About the Contributors," at the book's final pages, is an informative and impressive roll call. Reading the stories, a few at a time, took me far from my home.My favorites? "Amelia at Devil's Bridge," a beautiful, totally convincing ghost story by Joanne C. Hillhouse. "This Thing We Call Love," by Ivory Keller, which details a child's puzzled observations of adult problems. "A Good Friday," by Barbara Jenkins, which I read at its calendar time, a coincidence that reinforced its effect.

[snash_44 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an excellent collection of stories which I very much enjoyed. The stories have varied styles with very unique characters and each is doused in Caribbean color and flavor.

[Linda Ivey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent group of short stories each one fantastic in its own right. I really Cooney Ed with the stories in part one.

[marcusbrutus_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

My feelings are mixed on this volume. On the one hand, the authors in general have distinctive voices and strong imagery. However, not much happens in most of the actual stories, but there were three stories in the mix that I found enjoyable. “Amelia at Devil’s Bridge” by Joanne C. Hillhouse and “Mango Summer” by Janice Lynn Mather both had a fair amount of suspense, and “The Monkey Trap” is an interesting psychological character journey.

[bale_5 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I had difficulty rating Pepperpot. The literary quality offered in this arrangement of short stories was not uniform. Some stories were incredibly well written, while others had me wondering why they were chosen for this collection. The purpose of this book was to introduce and support a varied group of Caribbean authors, which it fulfills. However, a book of this nature presented under a singular title requires a literary caliber equal amoung peers.In looking at and reviewing the stories I enjoyed and thought superbly written, this book offered a group of diverse and compelling narratives with rich and resounding textures. These qualities reflect the unique flavors of the Caribbean culture and its colorful subcultures. Some had a folk tale quality designed to morally instruct, while others dealt with universal themes meant to assess and make sense of the character's existence. All seemed to be written in an effort to better understand and cope with life, as given to each individual portrayed.Bearing these characteristics in mind, this book is a relative success. It is unfortunate there is not a balance as it relates to literary aptitude. Whereas, some of the authors in this collection have exceptional talent and the book as a whole would be more enriching. Likewise, the rating would adequatly reflect what some of the authors truly deserve – five stars.As a post note, I have not identified the titles I felt warranted higher ratings. I do not want to color anyones perception in advance. It feels too much like a spoiler.