Jamaican author Diana McCaulay. Photo by Jeremy Francis, used with permission.
The U.S. launch of award-winning Jamaican writer and pioneering environmental activist Diana McCaulay‘s sixth novel, “A House for Miss Pauline,” took place on February 25 at the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn as part of the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival. This is to be followed by an online launch by the book's UK publishers.
The novel is set in rural Jamaica. On the eve of the title character's 100th birthday, Miss Pauline gathers both her inner strength and her supporters (some from unexpected quarters) in an effort to confront and expose deep, lingering secrets hidden in the very stones of her house. She does not know if she will succeed in her mission. As she pursues it, the conflicts and bitterness of Jamaica’s past — and her own personal story — unfold, even as her rural community grapples with the challenges of modern life. The narrative is infused with local folklore, customs and the beauty of the natural world, as well as the Patwa expressions of Jamaica.
The novel has received favourable reviews and earned praise from fellow Caribbean writers. Man Booker Prize-winning author Marlon James observed: “The past is uprooted, the present holds on by a thread, and in the midst of it all is Miss Pauline, strong, conflicted, driven and remarkable.” Trinidadian writer Monique Roffey hailed McCaulay as “one of the Caribbean’s finest writers […] Her novels are building blocks of the current Caribbean canon and will be read for years to come.”
I interviewed McCaulay via email, speaking with her about how the novel reflects what Jamaican society is — and is not.
Emma Lewis (EL): You dedicate your novel to several women, including Nancy McLean. Can you tell us a little about her, without any spoilers? How is McLean present in the novel?
Diana McCaulay (DM): Nancy McLean is one of my actual ancestors during slavery time. So she is not a character in the novel at the time it is set, but she is very much part of the story. She was an enslaved West African woman who had several children with a Portuguese enslaver and plantation owner who came to Jamaica in the 19th century to grow tobacco. He came to Mason Hall in St. Mary, where the novel is set.
EL: “Blood is powerful, female blood especially.” Would you say this is a women's novel?
DM: I push back at the idea that there is such a thing as a ‘women's novel,’ which suggests that there are topics which are of interest only to women. My own father told me this early in my writing journey and I have encountered it at writing workshops — ‘Oh, only women will read that. Write about war, that would be better.’ I reject that idea. Certainly, ‘A House for Miss Pauline’ is about the lives of women and their children, and their relationships with men.
EL: Land is an important theme in the book. How are land, family, and inheritance woven into Jamaican society and culture, and will it ever play itself out?
DM: Yes, I am preoccupied with our — humanity's — relationship with land: our feelings of ownership, connection (or lack thereof), rootedness, and also how we treat land, which is often more destructive than protective. Here in Jamaica, our history has meant that access to land is contested and still unequal and unjust, so these questions continue to animate Jamaican society today. Will it ever play itself out? I'm not sure, given the new threats such as the climate crisis, which I suspect is going to lead to new waves of migration away from areas most affected.
EL: “So di ting set.” There is a sense of inevitability in the story, a resignation. Is this a reference to rural life, which changes slowly, or something beyond that? How does it affect the characters?
DM: Often Jamaicans express that kind of resignation, that power structures and unfairness will persist despite efforts at change. A deep cynicism, if you will — so no, not confined to rural life. But Miss Pauline, my main character, does not believe it. Miss Pauline sees this belief affecting her best friend, Zepha, but she herself rejects it.
EL: You write with a great deal of empathy about young men in Jamaica and the challenges they face. As the character of Lamont, who represents this demographic, rides off into the sunset on his “yeng yeng” motorbike, what kind of future do you see for him?
DM: Lamont has a kindness and strong moral compass which I hope will stand him in good stead. His relationship with Miss Pauline hopefully will anchor him, and even after she dies — she is near the end of her life at 99 — I think he will remember her example.
EL: Miss Pauline is an extraordinary woman. Do you see something of yourself in her? And do you believe in duppies?
DM: No, not really. I didn't have Miss Pauline's life, and I doubt I would have overcome the hurdles she faced. I wanted to write about an elder, rural woman who rejected all the conditioning and expectations of women of her era and lived life on her own terms. Someone not to be trifled with. A complex woman.
I don't believe in the Ol Hige or Rolling Calf type of duppy, but I believe the land and its structures hold echoes of human and non-human stories, if we listen for them.
