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2012 Longlist

Dog-Heart

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ABOUT
THE BOOK

Dog-Heart is a novel about the well-meaning attempt of a middle-class single mother to transform the life of a boy from the ghetto who she meets on the street. Set in present-day, urban Jamaica, Dog-Heart tells the story from two alternating points of view – those of the woman and the boy. They speak in the two languages of Jamaica that sometimes overlap, sometimes display their different origins and world views. Whilst engaging the reader in a tense and absorbing narrative, the novel deals seriously with issues of race and class, the complexity of relationships between people of very different backgrounds, and the difficulties faced by individuals seeking to bring about social change by their own actions.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Diana
McCaulay

Diana McCaulay is an award-winning Jamaican writer and campaigning environmentalist and life-long resident of Kingston, Jamaica’s capital city. Gone to Drift is her first novel for Young Adults but she has written two acclaimed novels, Dog-Heart (2010) and Huracan (2012), both published by Peepal Tree Press. Both these novels were placed in international literary awards. She also won the Hollick Arvon Prize for Caribbean writing in 2014 for her forthcoming memoir Loving Jamaica: a Memoir of Place and (Not) Belonging.

Diana founded the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) in 1991 and still serves as its CEO and guiding force. Her writing contains an authenticity derived from her participation at many levels of Jamaican society. Born into the Jamaican upper-middle class, she has spent her life pounding questions of race, class, colour and privilege.

Diana McCaulay is an award-winning Jamaican writer and campaigning environmentalist and life-long resident of Kingston, Jamaica’s capital city. Gone to Drift is her first novel for Young Adults but she has written two acclaimed novels, Dog-Heart (2010) and Huracan (2012), both published by Peepal Tree Press. Both these novels were placed in international literary awards. She also won the Hollick Arvon Prize for Caribbean writing in 2014 for her forthcoming memoir Loving Jamaica: a Memoir of Place and (Not) Belonging.

Diana founded the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) in 1991 and still serves as its CEO and guiding force. Her writing contains an authenticity derived from her participation at many levels of Jamaican society. Born into the Jamaican upper-middle class, she has spent her life pounding questions of race, class, colour and privilege.

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NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS

Dog-Heart is an easy to read, gripping story which highlights the complexities of relationships between people of different social backgrounds and the difficulties individuals encounter when they try to bring about social changes.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Country
Jamaica
Original Language
English
Publisher
Peepal Tree Press Ltd.

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