No Pain Like This Body: The forgotten classic masterpiece of Trinidadian literature

(Paperback)

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A Faulkner-esque Classic of Trinidadian literature - No Pain Like This Body is a lost masterpiece of contemporary fiction. 'A masterpiece of hurt' New York Times WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MONIQUE ROFFEY In the Caribbean, at the beginning of the last century, a poor rice-growing family struggle to exist. Four siblings pass their days in the ricefield, as does Ma. But Pa is an angry man ready to vent. It is the August rainy season and above their heads the black sky crackles with lightning. On the day that Pa nearly drowns Ma in a tub of washing water, the children and their mother escape into the cane fields to wait out Pa's rage. But eight-year-old Rama, catches a chill in the rain and falls ill. What follows is a tale of the inheritance of loss. It contains a heart-stopping intensity that places it as one of the greatest Caribbean novels ever written. 'It is a novel unconcerned with anything but truth-telling' Dionne Brand 'To anyone who knows Caribbean literature his novel is infamous, and Ladoo is seen as one of the region's great literary stars' Independent 'Ladoo drags you through this terrific hurricane, and you can never forget it' Amanda Smyth, author of Fortune

Reviews

I have read the book several times and it is my favourite novel written by a Trinidadian novelist hands down. It deserves to be known -- Monique Roffey * Independent *
It is a book whose enduring gift is that someone had the courage to write it, without illusions, beneath a black sky -- David Chariandry
Rereading this book has given me the gift of seeing it not only as an ode to violence, as it has come to be characterized, but also as a compassionate work by its end. I am indeed in love with this book. -- Shani Mootoo
Luminous and harrowing * Times Literary Supplement *

Author Bio

Harold Sonny Ladoo (Author) Harold Sonny Ladoo was born in Trinidad in 1945 and emigrated to Toronto in 1968 with his wife and two children. In 1972 he graduated from the University of Toronto and his first novel, No Pain Like This Body, was published, earning Ladoo immediate recognition as a new literary talent. The following year he returned to Trinidad to settle a land dispute but was murdered. He was just twenty-eight. His second novel, Yesterdays, was published posthumously in 1974. Monique Roffey (Introducer) Monique Roffey was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad. She is the author of six novels and a memoir. The Mermaid of Black Conch won the Costa Book of the Year and the Costa Novel Award 2020. It was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2021, the Goldsmiths Prize 2020 and the Republic of Consciousness Prize 2021, and longlisted for the Orwell Prize, the Ondaatje Prize and the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature 2021. Monique Roffey is a Senior Lecturer at the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University and a tutor for the National Writers Centre.