An intricately woven tapestry of stories where survival, resilience and self-discovery are passed down through generations of an Indo-Trinidadian family.
Celeste Mohammed's second novel-in-stories, Ever Since We Small, is a family saga which covers a sweeping landscape from the days of the British Raj in India, to multicultural modern Trinidad. Written in a blend of Standard English and several flavours of Trinidad kriol, the book follows the bloodline of a young woman, Jayanti, after her decision to become a girmitiya, an indentured labourer in the Caribbean.
Jayanti's grandson, Lall Gopaul, seeks to escape the rural village where he was born, but becomes seduced and corrupted by urban life. His son, Shiva, is forced to take a child-bride, Salma, but never recovers from the guilt. Heartache follows for their three children - Anand, Nadya and Abby - who must each find a way to accept and yet move past their parents' failed example.
Along the journey of these ten interconnected stories, the alchemy necessary to turn the Gopauls' inheritance of pain into a "generation of gold" requires intervention by the living and dead, the "real" and the mythical, the mundane and the magical, the secular and the sacred.
"What is remarkable about Celeste Mohammed's book is how she creates vibrant characters from the thin threads of history. The women, beginning with the young Indian widow Jayanti all choose life over death but there is a price for freedom and it will be paid over many generations. All of Jayanti's descendants over the next hundred years want love and freedom, Salma and Yaz, Anand, Nadia and Abby,
author Living the Dream
"Ever Since We Small is deft, confident and big-hearted. Women curse, guide and heal, while love misleads, empowers and is satisfyingly capable of surmounting if not all, then at least a lot."
The Guardian
"What a skilfully-woven set of connected stories, teeming with characters so lively they jump off the page. A beautiful mixture of folklore, history, the intimate pattern of family relationships, and a meditation of what it means for women, over generations, to love, endure, and grow."
