ABOUT
THE BOOK

Cliff and Ossie have grown up in Plymouth on the island of Tobago, their lives turning on the axis of small town life; young men fooling outside Masta Barbar’s shop, gangsta-rap blasting; Baywatch and ‘Opree Winfree’ interrupted by frantic street calls from the preacher-man; a morning’s fishing and sex.
Then a young couple and their child arrive on the island. Bella, a Caribbean woman, and Peter, an Englishman come to live on the hill overlooking the sea. And it is here, drawn by the cool ‘film-style’ house, that the harsh, bright, brittle life of urban Plymouth may be kept briefly at bay. It is here too that desires and tensions deepen. Tide Running brings to life the characters of the contemporary Caribbean and captures the predicament of a young society looking to America for its fantasies and heroes, raising questions about relationships, wealth and responsibility.