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Men will want you like they want a glass of rum…One man will love you. But you won't love him. You will destroy his life. The one you love will break your heart in two.

So says the soothsayer, when predicting young Celia's future. Raised in the tropics of Tobago by an aunt she loves and an uncle she fears, Celia has never felt that she belonged. When her uncle--a man the neighbors call Allah because he thinks himself mightier than God--does something unforgivable, Celia escapes to the bustling capital city.

There she quickly embraces her burgeoning independence, but her search for a place to call home is soon complicated by an affectionate friendship with William, a thoughtful gardener, and a strong sexual tension with her employer. All too quickly, Celia finds herself fulfilling the soothsayer's predictions and living a life of tangled desperation--trapped between the man who offers her passion and the one who offers his heart.

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One I knew about my parents from the things I was told. I had never seen a photograph of either of them because there weren't any. But Aunt Tassi said that of course my mother was pretty and when I asked her how pretty she pointed at a pink hibiscus flower sticking out of a bush and said, "Pretty like that." How did she wear her hair? She tied her hair in a knot and wrapped a cloth around her head, she told me one cool afternoon while we were walking into Black Rock village to look for cassava. And how tall was she? And what color exactly were her eyes? You say black but were they woody black or black like those African bees that once flew out of the rotten silk cotton tree or black like pitch that comes from the lake in Trinidad? Were they round or slanted, big or small? What did people think of her when they saw her? Would they turn their heads or pass her by? Mostly when I asked these sorts of questions, my aunt carried on doing whatever she was doing as if I had not said anything at all. But it did not stop me from asking about my mother or thinking about my mother and wondering what she was like. I knew that she had worked in a barbershop called Mona's in Bacolet and she met my father in this same salon. My father was passing through the islands on his way home to England from panning gold in British Guiana. And I knew that she probably didn't cut hair like his too often. How could she, I told Aunt Tassi, if he was a white man. Whenever I said this was a romantic way to meet, my aunt said I shouldn't get caught in romance; she usually said this when Roman Bartholomew, her husband, was in earshot. She said my mother died after a long and difficult labor. Did she see me, I asked when I was five years old. I could not bear the idea of my mother never having seen me. Yes, Aunt Tassi said. Before she died she saw your tiny face and it made her laugh and cry at the same time because for the first time in her life she was happy. Then my aunt shook her head as if thinking about my mother made her sad, and I felt bad for asking. I was lying on my mother's stomach covered in her slimy juices when she took her last breath. And we were in a room without windows and it was very hot, so they moved her to another room with a window and they opened it wide so her soul could fly out into the sky. It was night and someone lit a flambeau in the yard to help her find her way. Aunt Tassi sent a letter to my father in Southampton, England, but my father did not reply and they buried my mother in St. George's graveyard and they put a little cross of wood because they did not have money for a stone. When I asked my aunt if I had killed my mother she said of course not and how could I think so. When one soul flies in, another flies out. I was unlucky. It just so happened that Aunt Tassi had a postcard from Southampton, sent to her by Father Carmichael. It was a photograph of a port and a lot of people waving at passengers I couldn't quite make out. I could see the bow of a large boat but not the passengers. southampton was written in white capital letters along the bottom. Sometimes I took this postcard from behind Aunt Tassi's dresser where it was held in place with a hair clip and I stared at the waving English people and I wondered if my father could be one of them or at least look like one of them. ... Everyone said I was lucky to have Aunt Tassi. My cousins, Vera and Violet, were three years younger than me. They looked the same and they spoke the same and they both laughed in the same way. Aunt Tassi often said how beautiful they were, but I never thought so. Their skin, yes. Their skin was dark and shiny and smooth like a melongen. But their faces were ordinary and identical, and their bodies were straight and thin, like stick men you draw when you don't know how to draw somebody. Like me, they didn't have a father. The moment Vera an Excerpted from Lime Tree Can't Bear Orange: A Novel by Amanda Smyth All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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Library Journal Review

Set in verdant Trinidad-Tabago as the islands emerge from colonialism, this debut by Irish-Trinidadian Smyth (published as Black Rock in the U.K.) presents the tragic story of a girl's exploitation and dashed hopes. Smyth's lyrical prose captures the fresh, young voice of teenaged Celia, whose observant eye registers both the beauty and the poverty of her surroundings. Celia is unlucky: her mother died when Celia was born, and her father, she has been told, was an errant seaman who has returned to Southampton, England. She is raised by her mother's sister Tassi, who eventually marries the abusive Roman. After Roman beats and rapes her, Celia flees to the capital city, Port of Spain, on the neighboring island, and secures employment as a maid for a prominent doctor and his family-a move that proves to be her downfall. VERDICT This is a classic story of seduction and abandonment, but Celia's persona is so strong and sympathetic that the reader is convinced she will escape her fate. Eventually, she learns that her heritage is more complex than she imagined. A great beach read; highly recommended for all readers of popular fiction.-Reba Leiding, James Madison Univ. Libs., Harrisonburg, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

In Smyth's enchanting debut, set in Black Rock, Tobago, young protagonist Celia D'Abadie searches for traces of her absent lineage-the mother who died in childbirth and the white father reputed to live in England. Raised by her aunt Tassi in the shadow of fear cast by her lecherous uncle, Roman, Celia is given a prophetic glimpse into her future from Mrs. Jeremiah, the village seer. At 16, Celia flees after Roman rapes her, and en route to Trinidad, she meets William Shamiel. Under the guidance of William's family, Celia secures a job working as a maid for Dr. Emmanuel Rodriguez, his fragile English wife, Helen, and their two children. Celia moves into their dysfunctional home and balances relationships with two men vying for her affection. As Celia and her employer become closer, Helen's dramatic descent into madness becomes more apparent. While the story line-naOve boonies dweller moves to big city and learns about life and love-has been done a million times, Smyth's deftly captured tropical landscape and superstitions are enough of a tweak to keep things interesting. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Idyllic Trinidad and Tobago serves as backdrop for Smyth's elegant debut about love, heartbreak, and loss. In the novel's opening pages, readers meet pretty teenager Celia D'Abadie, orphaned at birth and living in Tobago with her benign aunt Tassi and lecherous uncle Roman. When Roman rapes her, Celia runs away, knowing in her heart that it's the only way she will find peace. Aboard the ferry to Port of Spain, Trinidad, Celia meets a kindly gardener named William, who helps her secure work as a housekeeper for a well-to-do physician. Dr. Emmanuel Rodriguez is handsome and smart; romance soon blossoms between the two. At first, Emmanuel's mentally unstable wife, Helen, doesn't seem to be aware or care. Then she has a nervous breakdown, and everything falls apart. Celia seeks solace at the estate of another aunt, but she can't shake the melancholy that dominates her days. In the back of Celia's mind all the while are thoughts of shy, virtuous William, who clearly has feelings for her. Why has she dismissed this decent man for so long? Smyth, an Irish Trinidadian, renders lithe, lyrical prose, evoking the lush landscape of the West Indies and the modest lives lived at the mercy of fate.--Block, Allison Copyright 2009 Booklist

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

AMANDA SMYTH's short stories have been published in New Writing 12, London Magazine, Firsthand, and New Voices . She lives in England.