The White Woman on the Green Bicycle
Monique Roffey, 2012
Penguin Group USA
448 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780143119517
Summary
A beautifully written, unforgettable novel of a troubled marriage, set against the lush landscape and political turmoil of Trinidad
Monique Roffey's Orange Prize-shortlisted novel is a gripping portrait of postcolonialism that stands among great works by Caribbean writers like Jamaica Kincaid and Andrea Levy.
When George and Sabine Harwood arrive in Trinidad from England, George is immediately seduced by the beguiling island, while Sabine feels isolated, heat-fatigued, and ill-at-ease. As they adapt to new circumstances, their marriage endures for better or worse, despite growing political unrest and racial tensions that affect their daily lives. But when George finds a cache of letters that Sabine has hidden from him, the discovery sets off a devastating series of consequences as other secrets begin to emerge. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1965
• Where—Porf of Spain, Trinidad
• Education—B.A., Univeristy of East Anglia; M.A., Ph.D,
Lancaster University
• Currently—divides her time between London and Port of
Spain
Monique Roffey is a Trinidadian-born British writer and memoirist.
Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, in 1965 to a British father and mother of mixed Mediterranean origins, Roffey was educated at St Andrew’s School in Maraval, Trinidad, and then in the UK at St Maur’s Convent, and St George's College, Weybridge. She studied English and Film Studies at the University of East Anglia and later completed an MA and PhD in Creative Writing at Lancaster University. Between 2002-2006 she was a Centre Director for the Arvon Foundation and later held three posts for the Royal Literary Fund (2006–12). Roffey has taught creative writing for English PEN, the Arvon Foundation, the Writers’ Lab, Skyros and on the MA in Creative and Life Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London.
She is a member of the action group CALAG (Caribbean Literature Action Group), launched in April 2012, a twenty-strong group of writers, publishers and literary activists committed to mentoring new talent and stimulating a literary publishing industry in the Caribbean region.
She has dual nationality and divides her time between London and Port of Spain.
Works
Roffey’s early body of work comprises three novels and a memoir. Sun Dog, set in west London, is a magical realist tale of psychological estrangement, identity loss and subsequent individuation. The White Woman on the Green Bicycle (short-listed for the Orange Prize 2010 and the Encore Award 2011), is the story of European ex-colonials living in Trinidad during the island’s early Independence years and their subsequent process of creolisation. It was hailed by Commonwealth Prize-winner Olive Senior, who said: "...It breaks entirely new ground. It is a major contribution to the New Wave of Caribbean writing: energetic, uncompromising, bold in the choice of narrative devices and a great read.” It has been published to critical acclaim in the UK, USA and Europe.
Roffey's 2011 memoir, With the Kisses of His Mouth, is a personal account of a mid-life quest for sexual liberation and self-identification other than the aspirant hetero-normative model.
Archipelago, published in July 2012, written in the aftermath of a flood, examines climate change from the perspective of a man from the southern Caribbean. Andrew Miller, Costa Award Winner, 2012, said of it: "Archipelago is beautifully done. There's a warmth to it, an exuberance and a wisdom, that makes the experience of reading it feel not just pleasurable but somehow instructive. It's funny, sometimes bitingly poignant. And how well Roffey writes a male central character. A brilliant piece of storytelling.”
A writer of dual nationality and perspective, she writes about outsiders, be they the terminally awkward (August Chalmin), the left-behind Europeans in Trinidad (George and Sabine Harwood), or indeed herself. Stylistically, her work can be linked in terms of post-modern narrative choices, in that they often weave together magical realism, real-life historical characters and events, biography and autobiography to tackle themes of alienation and otherness. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
Roffey's evocation of Trinidad is extraordinarily vivid, the central relationship beautifully observed.... Deservedly short-listed for the Orange Prize.
Kate Saunders - Times (London)
Equal love and attention go into the marriage and the country at the heart of this Orange Prize short-listed novel.... It's a book packed with meaty themes, from racism to corruption to passion and loyalty."
Sunday Telegraph
A searing account of the bitter disappointment suffered by Trinidadians on securing their independence from British colonial rule and of the mixed feelings felt by a white couple who decide to stay on. An earthy, full-blooded piece of writing, steaming with West Indian heat.
London Evening Standard
[Roffey's] plot engages the reader through a gradual revelation of the past—slowly forming a melancholy whole."
Financial Times
Engaging.... A firebomb of a book, revealing a slowly disintegrating marriage, a country betrayed and a searing racism that erupts in terrible violence.... This is a stunning book, and its depiction of an aspect of Caribbean life is well worth contemplating.
Cleveland Plain Dealer
A rich and highly engaging novel.
Guardian
Roffey's Orange Prize nominated book is a brilliant, brutal study of a marriage overcast by too much mutual compromise.
Independent
Heart-rending and thought-provoking, you will never again see the Caribbean as just another holiday destination.
Elle Magazine
Roffey's explorations of longtime marriages, race, and the lingering effects of colonialism are insightful and often painful to read.... The true main character in this novel is Trinidad itself: its people, its customs, and its contradictions.
Nancy Pearl - National Public Radio
Few novels capture the postcolonial culture with such searing honesty as this Caribbean story told through the alternating viewpoints of a white British couple over the last 50 years.... The pitch-perfect voices capture the colonials' racism and sense of entitlement.
Booklist
Discussion Questions
1. Have you been to Trinidad? If so, how well do you think Monique Roffey captures the country, its politics, and its internal race relations? If you've never visited the region, how has reading this book changed or confirmed your conceptions of Trinidad?
2. Is it wise for Talbot to accept George's help? Does he have a choice?
3. In one of her many letters to Eric Williams, Sabine writes, "George has gone mad. He sleeps with other women, flaunts his charms. All this has gone to his head.... Too much rum. Too many beautiful women on this goddamn island" (p. 48). Do you—like Sabine—believe that George would have been more faithful to her if they'd remained in England?
4. Can you empathize with Sabine's fascination with Eric Williams? Have you ever felt a similar connection to a public figure?
5. If at all, how does Sabine's own mixed heritage affect her feelings toward the Trinidadian people?
6. Pascale's "children's dark skin had been a surprise to them all. They'd come out much darker than their father, who wouldn't admit he had any African in him at all" (p. 70). The novel hints that Pascale might have been fathered by a black man, yet Sabine never recollects having sexual relations with Williams. How reliable are Sabine's memories? Is she capable of "forgetting" such an affair?
7. George likes the fact that "this island was uncompromising and hard for tourists to negotiate.... Trinidad was oil-rich, didn't need tourism" (p. 78). Is his prejudice against tourists hypocritical?
8. When George interviews Eric Manning, the current prime minister harshly dismisses him, saying, "You are the past and you can stick your critique of my government, elected by the people, for the people, up your pathetic old white ass" (p. 166). Do you agree or disagree with Manning's assessment?
9. How do you think Bobby Comacho's murder will affect the novel's survivors?
10. What—if anything—do you believe the colonizers owe to their former colonies?
11. After the earthquake, George and Sabine "remained clutching each other" (p. 173) while they declare their abiding love for each other. Is fifty shared years and two children enough to mitigate the pain they've inflicted on each other? Would you call what they still feel love?
(Questions issued by publisher.)