Show Me A Mountain
Fay Wong is a naïve young woman living in Kingston, Jamaica, during the 1950s and 1960s, before and after the British gave Jamaica its independence. Fay’s father is Chinese and her mother is of African heritage, the latter ignoring her background and living like an entitled British lady. For some unexplained, secret reason, Fay’s mother constantly preaches a fundamental-style Christianity to her daughter in a tone filled with derision and condemnation. Beatings accompany these tirades.
As Fay gets older, she becomes hardened and highly observant of the lifestyle lived outside of her nightmarish home environment. At first she escapes through a set of very rich friends until one of her friends is forced to quickly grow up. Fay’s naïveté evolves into a hungry curiosity about all experiences, specifically a criminal side of Kingston involving her father, her brother, a black friend, a Chinese prostitute, Fay’s husband Yang Pao, and a Catholic priest.
What appears to be a simple plot becomes more complex, as with every new experience comes violent and vicious trouble for all involved. Fay’s knowledge drives her to know more, while the reader also learns about a complex criminal underside of Jamaica that requires momentous sacrifices from all its participants. A question develops in the reader’s mind about the culpability of Fay’s father, whose loving and supportive manner never changes and never adequately warns Fay of the troubles she keeps creating. Growing up this way becomes a traumatic conundrum for Fay, perhaps a microcosm for the evolution of the people of Jamaica doing what they must to gain independence. Highly recommended, shocking, complex and riveting historical fiction!
