When Mary-Mathilda, one of the most respected women of the island of Bimshire (also known as Barbados) calls the police to confess to a crime, the result is a shattering all-night vigil that brings together elements of the island's African past and the tragic legacy of colonialism in one epic sweep.
Set in the West Indies in the period following World War II, The Polished Hoe — an Essence bestseller and a Washington Post Book World Most Worthy Book of 2003 — unravels over the course of twenty-four hours but spans the collective experience of a society characterized by slavery.
The Polished Hoe by Austin Clarke
Austin Clarke is a professor of literature and has taught at Yale, Brandeis, Williams, Duke, and the Universities of Texas and Indiana. He assisted in setting up a Black Studies program at Yale in 1968, after which he became the cultural attaché of the Embassy of Barbados in Washington, D.C. Culminating with the international success of The Polished Hoe, which won the Giller Prize, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and the Trillium Prize, Austin Clarke's work since 1964 includes eleven novels, six short-story collections, and four memoirs. He lives in Toronto.
ISBN-13: 9780060557621
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: 05/25/2004
Edition description: First Amistad Paperback Edition
Pages: 480
Product dimensions: 5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.09(d)
Book - Fiction | Historical | General
Book - Fiction | Literary
Book - Fiction | African American & Black | Women
Book - Fiction | Family Life | General
Book - Fiction | Short Stories (single author)
LC Subjects:
-Women -Historical fiction
-Mistresses -Women murderers
-West Indies -Plantation life
-Plantation owners