Ever Since We Small
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'a book of great candour and compassion written by a storyteller in whose skillful hands the tragic experiences of a Trinidadian family become lessons in love, life and grace' - Cherie Jones, author of How the One-Arm Sister Sweeps Her House
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.
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Praise for Ever Since We Small
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Ever Since We Small is a book of great candour and compassion written by a storyteller in whose skillful hands the tragic experiences of a Trinidadian family become lessons in love, life and grace. Mohammed weaves a compelling saga in lyrical and luminous prose, replete with the colour and cadence of the Caribbean. I couldn't put it down. - author of How the One-Arm Sister Sweeps Her House
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Ever Since We Small is an evocative exploration of survival passed through generations. Celeste Mohammed traces the journey of Jayanti, an Indian woman forced into sati, whose escape from India into indentureship in Trinidad ignites a story of resilience and self-discovery. Through beautifully observed, steely writing sheathed in velvet-a style that pairs sharp insight with graceful prose-Mohammed captures the fragmented inheritances of life and culture from India, drawing on myth, history, and memory to reveal the inner lives of women, their spirits tempered but unbroken by hardship. This novel meditates on belonging, trauma, and the quiet acts of defiance that shape women's lives across time and place. - India-born Trinidadian multimedia journalist and columnist whose memoir Love the Dark Days (Peepal Tree Press) won the 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for Non-Fiction.
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