2021 is finally upon us. I am confident that this year is going to be much better than 2020! To kick off the year on a high note I am making a series of blog posts focused on my upcoming historical fiction novel, Children of the Ocean. Over the holiday period, I am happy to report that I have made steady progress on my writing and I am now “knee-deep” in the story with seventy-five pages under my belt. Whoohoo!. One of the reasons I have been making such rapid progress, compared to Walking in Footsteps of Promise, is that I feel a burning excitement to tell this story (I will share more on that aspect in a future post). The more I learn about the Black Caribs (Garifuna) and delve deeper into their amazing story, the more I feel compelled to write Children of the Ocean God.
One major change that you will notice this year on my author blog is that my posts will be a lot more interactive. I will be making a concerted effort to actively involve my readers (that’s you by the way!) in the writing process. To do this I will be asking you to share your feedback on various aspects of Children of the Ocean God, which I hope will both pique your interest and help me to produce a high-quality novel.
As a starting point, below is a first draft of the back cover summary for Children of the Ocean God. Before you read it I want you to imagine that you are in a bookstore or library with endless shelves of books. You are walking along the aisles and you see a book which is sticking out slightly from the rest. Your curiosity is piqued, so you decide to pick it up to see what it is about. The front cover looks attractive and the title seems intriguing – Children of the Ocean God. But you are still not sure if this is a book you want to buy or borrow. So you flip the book over and read the summary on the back cover. This is what it says:
“The year is 1795. The ideals of the French Revolution are sweeping their way across the Caribbean until they reach the shores of St. Vincent, an island inhabited by a tribe of mixed Amerindian and African ancestry called the Black Caribs. A dysfunctional peace treaty leads to simmering tensions with British colonists motivated by profit. At a crucial moment, with British fortunes waning in the region, the Black Caribs foment an all-out war. Supported by French revolutionaries, they attempt to establish their status as citizens of a free nation.
Children of the Ocean God follows the lives of several key actors in the Second Carib War over an explosive fortnight from the events leading up to the war till the days following its dramatic anti-climax at the summit of Dorsetshire Hill. There is Joseph Chatoyer, the revered Black Carib paramount chief who is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for his people; and Governor James Seton, the conflicted colonial administrator who will stop at nothing to quell the insurrection; and Captain Alexander Leith, an ambitious Scotsman seeking to restore his family’s former prestige; and Warramou, a young, romantic, Black Carib warrior who finds himself in the struggle of his life as he tries to save his beloved homeland.
Based on actual events, Children of the Ocean God, transports readers to a fascinating period in history, capturing the nuances of colonialism and slavery in the Caribbean, the revolutionary fervor of the times, and the dauntless, noble fighting spirit of the Black Caribs desperately trying to preserve their birthright.”
Feedback survey:
How does this summary make you feel?
Was your interest piqued in the novel?
Would you purchase or borrow Children of the Ocean God based on what you read? And why?
Please feel free to share your feedback in a comment below. I would love to hear from you. Thank you very much for your help. (Featured image – “Pacification of Maroon Negroes” by Agostino Brunias)