Writer, Dramatist and Lecturer, Joanne Haynes’ ‘Sapotee Soil’ is a collection of 10 writings, in the shapes of stories, narratives and reports, rooted in the Trinidad and Tobago, and indeed the Caribbean experience, illustrative of our fusion and cultural mix.

There are writings here spawned from the Indo Trinidadian life style. ‘Beyond the Horizon’ tells the historical but poignant tale of Siewdass Sadhu’s affirmation, despite all odds, to build a Hindu temple in the sea after the authorities demolished his first attempt in 1947. Demonised then as the actions of a mad man, now in TT lore as the act of a visionary, the narrative is filled with images and pictures that keep the reader enthralled.

‘She never walks alone’, opens with a beautiful juxtaposition of the two families, movie style. It is Haynes at her best, the writer as movie director. This story examines the forbidden love, during Indentureship, between master and indenture, between Indo Trinidad and Tobago with its innocence still intact, and the unwary child of the colonial master; a story relived untold times before and after Shakespeare’s compelling ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The conclusion is as riveting as Marty Robbins’ legendary ‘El Paso’. Even though the final photograph may be obvious, it plays out like a brilliant mystery novel.

Amerindian Trinidad and Tobago also gets a play in the intriguing story of ‘The Fallen People of the Black Land’, a narrative told through the mind and thoughts of one character, Kayana, searching for his identity and that of his people, as he tries to conquer his primordial fears. The author is able to get the reader to identify with the voice of the protagonist sharing his fears and too his aspirations, as Kayana seeks the act that will bring him to manhood. The Afro Trinidad past is expressed in ‘The Mystery of Moruga’, the story of the famous Papa Neeza, the Obeah man. But here Haynes utilizes a strict newspaper style, explaining, reporting, informing the reader about the legend behind the well known Moruga seerman, yet at the same time questioning the dichotomy between Neeza’s spiritual London Baptist Christian Self he displayed on Sundays and the African religious Persona shown on week days.

Haynes slips easily between the dialect and the standard. Her uncanny storytelling ability transforms and transports the reader, from the sanctuary of the living room (better not read these in your bedroom) to a place around the communal campfire, on a heart racing journey where every bump evokes familiar images and emotions and every moment of silence adds to the excitement. These are bedtime stories better told in the safety of the electric light of the living room where shadows are not mistaken and these ghosts of the past, so vividly conjured up by the writer, does not haunt the unsuspecting reader.

Haynes is intelligent enough to capture the historical time by not only the effective use of the dialect and dialogue, but also by the introduction of objects familiar and native to the particular narrative. In ‘The Fallen People of the Black Land’ the humming bird is never once called a humming bird but by the original ‘colibri’.

Her mastery of the language is sufficient to keep the reader glued to the lines on the page. The language of violence is her forte as much as the language of romance.

At a time when cable TV is the greatest culprit in ensuring that our stories and fables are not passed onto the next generation, Anansi is now Bugs Bunny, ‘Sapotee Soil’ is a welcome addition to the already scarce and diminishing library of our folktales, though these folktales are in truth really history lessons.

Joanne Haynes is the 2005 winner of the Derek Walcott / Trinidad Theatre Workshop prize for Literature. ‘Sapotee Soil’ proves that her success is no fluke.