Monique Roffey
Author of The Mermaid of Black Conch
About the Author
Monique Roffey is now center director at The Arvon Foundation's residential center for writers in Devon.
Works by Monique Roffey
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1965-04-24
- Gender
- female
- Education
- University of East Anglia (BA) (English and Film Studies)
Lancaster University (MA) (Creative Writing)
Lancaster University (PhD) (Creative Writing) - Occupations
- novelist
Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing - Organizations
- Manchester Metropolitan University
Arvon Foundation - Nationality
- Trinidad and Tobago (dual nationality)
UK (dual nationality) - Birthplace
- Port-of-Spain, Trinidad
- Places of residence
- London, England, UK
Port-of-Spain, Trinidad - Associated Place (for map)
- London, England, UK
Members
Discussions
The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey in Orange January/July (July 2011)
Reviews
In the 1970s, a group of white Americans on holiday on a Caribbean island go out fishing and catch more than they bargained for: a mermaid. Local fisherman David discovers what happens, takes pity on the mermaid and rescues her, only to find that the mermaid is actually a Taino woman, Aycayia, who was cursed long ago.
Monique Roffey's Mermaid of Black Conch is as much an exploration of the consequences of colonialism, ownership, and cruelty as it is a bittersweet romance between David and show more Aycayia. The is aided by the novel's vivid, sensual imagery which helps to make Black Conch feel like a real place inhabited by real if fantastical people: as a mermaid, Aycayia had a "barnacled, seaweed-clotted head", a tail of "yards and yards of musty silver"; "[s]he was crawling with sea-lice" and had spikes "like the spokes of a folded umbrella".
However, the prose is not always as precise as it could be, and Roffey often stopped short of really digging into the themes the book evoked. Moreover, as the book progressed and we got to know more of Aycayia's backstory and her own PoV, there were occasional hints of gender essentialism/heteronormativity that I found uncomfortable. (No, not all women are into dick.)
An engaging read, but a flawed one. show less
Monique Roffey's Mermaid of Black Conch is as much an exploration of the consequences of colonialism, ownership, and cruelty as it is a bittersweet romance between David and show more Aycayia. The is aided by the novel's vivid, sensual imagery which helps to make Black Conch feel like a real place inhabited by real if fantastical people: as a mermaid, Aycayia had a "barnacled, seaweed-clotted head", a tail of "yards and yards of musty silver"; "[s]he was crawling with sea-lice" and had spikes "like the spokes of a folded umbrella".
However, the prose is not always as precise as it could be, and Roffey often stopped short of really digging into the themes the book evoked. Moreover, as the book progressed and we got to know more of Aycayia's backstory and her own PoV, there were occasional hints of gender essentialism/heteronormativity that I found uncomfortable. (No, not all women are into dick.)
An engaging read, but a flawed one. show less
David Baptiste, a fisherman from the island of Black Conch, has heard the legends about mermen in the local waters all his life, but he has never heard of a mermaid. But one day back in the April of ‘76, David is sitting in his pirogue, strumming his guitar, and waiting for the fish to bite, when a merwoman appears from the depths. Not a mermaid from a Disney story, but a huge powerful merwoman from long ago, with hair alive with sea creatures. And she returns every day, until the day that show more the white Americans come to fish shark at Black Conch and instead catch themselves a mermaid ...
Unlike David, the Americans view the mermaid purely as a trophy to be sold to the highest bidder, and cannot see that she is a person in her own right. So David rescues her, and secretes her in his bathtub until he can release her back into the ocean. But once out of the sea the mermaid begins to change:
This is a beautifully written novel which evokes the atmosphere of the Caribbean wonderfully. It touches on love, jealousy and the legacy of colonialism and slavery. The winner of the Costa Book of the Year for 2020, I’m very surprised that it’s not better known on LT. show less
Unlike David, the Americans view the mermaid purely as a trophy to be sold to the highest bidder, and cannot see that she is a person in her own right. So David rescues her, and secretes her in his bathtub until he can release her back into the ocean. But once out of the sea the mermaid begins to change:
‘The nest of sargassum seaweed in her hair began to fall off in clumps and underneath was long, black and knotted dreads. Her ears dropped seawater and small sea insects climbed out. Her nostrils bled all kinds of molluscs and tiny crabs. She’d been a home to all kinda small sea creatures, and they were slowly, over days, abandoning her, moving out. Small piles appeared by the side of the tub and these piles were active. Crabs scuttled away, sideways. I had to shoo away the neighbour’s cat which came sniffing around.’
This is a beautifully written novel which evokes the atmosphere of the Caribbean wonderfully. It touches on love, jealousy and the legacy of colonialism and slavery. The winner of the Costa Book of the Year for 2020, I’m very surprised that it’s not better known on LT. show less
‘’That morning David played her soft hymns he’d learnt as a boy, praising God. He sang holy songs for her, songs which brought tears to his eyes, and there they stayed, on this second meeting, a small patch of sea apart, watching each other - a young, wet-eyed Black Conch fisherman with an old guitar, and a mermaid who’d arrived on the currents from Cuban waters, where once they talked of her by the name of Aycayia.’’
An ancient mermaid is captured by greedy white men. She was a show more woman, once, but she was cursed to become a creature of the sea because of her beauty. Cursed by women, threatened and abused by men. But a young fisherman, kind-hearted and wise, rescues her and she joins the mortal world once again. However, the ‘’modern’’ society is not modern at all, and there are forces that never change, no matter the centuries that separate the generations.
One of the most beautiful and moving stories you’ll ever read welcomes you with open arms.
‘’My lungs fill up with water
but I know the sea better than Yankee men
Woman put me in the sea
Call for huracan
Now man want to take me out
I feel fresh pain
next man pulling on the line
The hook in my throat
I want to go down to die.’’
Roffey sets her hypnotic, haunting story during the 70s, the era of changes. But ‘change’’ is a rather ambiguous word and ‘’change’’ often becomes the smoke-screen and excuse for profit at all costs. In her beautiful novel, Roffey pays homage to the traditions of the Caribbean, the myths of the relationship between mortal men and mermaids and comments on themes that are highly relevant to our troubled times. Race, sexuality, migration, violence, ruthless profit. How the white race takes and takes and takes. How women can be cruel and dangerous when jealousy and pure malice take over their souls. Instead of standing together, they become the worst threat. Men and women violate bodies and souls. This is the reality Aycayia has to face.
‘’The bald earth drank up all the rain. The tough white grass turned green. Mornings were cool and hazy. Mist clung to the tops of the mountains, where the temperature was cool. Large, matronly macajuel snakes, heavy with eggs, unfurled themselves and travelled slow slow through the dense rainforest, seeking the crystal water that gathered in pods in the crevises roots of trees.’’
Through the songs and hymns and the lullaby of the sea, through Aycayia’s laments (brilliantly presented as long fry-style poems/ folk songs), through the wild laughter of the women of the past and the deep pond between Aycayia and David and the kindness of Arcadia, Life and Reggie, inspired by Neruda’s The Mermaid and the Drunks, echoing Marquez’s works, Monique Roffey creates a story that we should cherish. A journey to a captivating natural environment, the depths of the human soul and the way we mercilessly destroy our world.
‘’I knew that ghosts came onto the land from the sea. You could feel them out there. I sat and wondered just what kinda men get murder here in this bay and for what reason? White men arrive from far away and then sail back to where they came from. I always figure is feelings of being insecure that make someone want to take from others. The white men who came here were full of jumbie spirit, always restless. Ghosts came into the bay, ghosts of white men, and red men and black men like me, and these ghosts came like a current bringing unease and nervousness. Is only my humble opinion. But this is what white men bring here to the Caribbean: trouble. Then and now, they always looking, then taking something.’’
My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/ show less
An ancient mermaid is captured by greedy white men. She was a show more woman, once, but she was cursed to become a creature of the sea because of her beauty. Cursed by women, threatened and abused by men. But a young fisherman, kind-hearted and wise, rescues her and she joins the mortal world once again. However, the ‘’modern’’ society is not modern at all, and there are forces that never change, no matter the centuries that separate the generations.
One of the most beautiful and moving stories you’ll ever read welcomes you with open arms.
‘’My lungs fill up with water
but I know the sea better than Yankee men
Woman put me in the sea
Call for huracan
Now man want to take me out
I feel fresh pain
next man pulling on the line
The hook in my throat
I want to go down to die.’’
Roffey sets her hypnotic, haunting story during the 70s, the era of changes. But ‘change’’ is a rather ambiguous word and ‘’change’’ often becomes the smoke-screen and excuse for profit at all costs. In her beautiful novel, Roffey pays homage to the traditions of the Caribbean, the myths of the relationship between mortal men and mermaids and comments on themes that are highly relevant to our troubled times. Race, sexuality, migration, violence, ruthless profit. How the white race takes and takes and takes. How women can be cruel and dangerous when jealousy and pure malice take over their souls. Instead of standing together, they become the worst threat. Men and women violate bodies and souls. This is the reality Aycayia has to face.
‘’The bald earth drank up all the rain. The tough white grass turned green. Mornings were cool and hazy. Mist clung to the tops of the mountains, where the temperature was cool. Large, matronly macajuel snakes, heavy with eggs, unfurled themselves and travelled slow slow through the dense rainforest, seeking the crystal water that gathered in pods in the crevises roots of trees.’’
Through the songs and hymns and the lullaby of the sea, through Aycayia’s laments (brilliantly presented as long fry-style poems/ folk songs), through the wild laughter of the women of the past and the deep pond between Aycayia and David and the kindness of Arcadia, Life and Reggie, inspired by Neruda’s The Mermaid and the Drunks, echoing Marquez’s works, Monique Roffey creates a story that we should cherish. A journey to a captivating natural environment, the depths of the human soul and the way we mercilessly destroy our world.
‘’I knew that ghosts came onto the land from the sea. You could feel them out there. I sat and wondered just what kinda men get murder here in this bay and for what reason? White men arrive from far away and then sail back to where they came from. I always figure is feelings of being insecure that make someone want to take from others. The white men who came here were full of jumbie spirit, always restless. Ghosts came into the bay, ghosts of white men, and red men and black men like me, and these ghosts came like a current bringing unease and nervousness. Is only my humble opinion. But this is what white men bring here to the Caribbean: trouble. Then and now, they always looking, then taking something.’’
My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/ show less
There is much to admire in [Passiontide], [[Monique Roffey]]’s latest, soon-to-be published novel. Set in Port Isabella on the Caribbean island of St. Colibri (a fictionalized Trinidad) during Lent and Passiontide a few years ago, this novel focusses on the events set off on the last night of Carnival by the horrific murder of Sora Tanaka. Sora is a young Japanese, well known to the Port Isabella community from her yearly visits at Carnival time to play steel pan music with the best of the show more local pan players. Although Sora’s murder is at the heart of the novel, [Passiontide] is not a murder mystery. It is about the attempt of the women of the island to bring about change, through peaceful protests, to St. Colibri’s extraordinarily high rate of femicide, wife-beating, and other woman abuse. The women’s ultimate antagonists are those in power who are either religious misogynists or indifferent male government officials. What they experience is the power they can have when large numbers representing all classes, economic levels, and social status unite in their common quest for change from patriarchal power and values.
My memory of this novel will be of voices, layers of voices, mostly women’s voices, but men’s voices as well, voices expressing deep sorrow, rage, anxiety, terror, love, joy, shock, despair, hope, fear. We hear through the victim, the murderer, the detective in charge, the mayor, the prime minister, the pathologist. And then there is the voice of pan music, born on the island, carrying both its greatest sorrow and most powerful joy. The story is mostly carried by the voices of four women who could be said to be the main characters: Tara, already an activist and head of the small group of feminists on the island; Sharleen, a reporter covering women’s issues for the local newspaper; Gigi, a prostitute and leader of a group advocating for the protection of prostitutes; and Daisy, wife of the Prime Minister, whose sister had also been the victim of an unsolved murder. Tara and Gigi begin the protest by planning a peaceful occupation of the public space outside the Prime Minister’s office building. From this decision, the plot builds as the women grow in number and in goals. All is held together loosely within the structural framework of the liturgical season—Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday.
And then of course, there is Roffey’s own voice, her way with words: her skillful use of imagery, symbolism, and diction. The characters usually speak a highly colloquial dialect, using even obscurely slangy words, making the novel a very intimate experience, even though for many readers, it will also feel foreign. And Roffey’s themes couldn’t be more timely. I really loved [Passiontide] and look forward to September, when I’ll be able to buy a hardbound copy just in time for a reread.
Read if you like an exotic island setting, with a very hardheaded look at the facts of women’s lives in far too many places in today’s world, and a story of a group of women uniting for change.
My thanks to Penguin-Random House and NetGalley for this arc. show less
My memory of this novel will be of voices, layers of voices, mostly women’s voices, but men’s voices as well, voices expressing deep sorrow, rage, anxiety, terror, love, joy, shock, despair, hope, fear. We hear through the victim, the murderer, the detective in charge, the mayor, the prime minister, the pathologist. And then there is the voice of pan music, born on the island, carrying both its greatest sorrow and most powerful joy. The story is mostly carried by the voices of four women who could be said to be the main characters: Tara, already an activist and head of the small group of feminists on the island; Sharleen, a reporter covering women’s issues for the local newspaper; Gigi, a prostitute and leader of a group advocating for the protection of prostitutes; and Daisy, wife of the Prime Minister, whose sister had also been the victim of an unsolved murder. Tara and Gigi begin the protest by planning a peaceful occupation of the public space outside the Prime Minister’s office building. From this decision, the plot builds as the women grow in number and in goals. All is held together loosely within the structural framework of the liturgical season—Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday.
And then of course, there is Roffey’s own voice, her way with words: her skillful use of imagery, symbolism, and diction. The characters usually speak a highly colloquial dialect, using even obscurely slangy words, making the novel a very intimate experience, even though for many readers, it will also feel foreign. And Roffey’s themes couldn’t be more timely. I really loved [Passiontide] and look forward to September, when I’ll be able to buy a hardbound copy just in time for a reread.
Read if you like an exotic island setting, with a very hardheaded look at the facts of women’s lives in far too many places in today’s world, and a story of a group of women uniting for change.
My thanks to Penguin-Random House and NetGalley for this arc. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 8
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 1,359
- Popularity
- #18,912
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 57
- ISBNs
- 80
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- 5
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