- Published
- March 8th 2004
- Price
- £7.99
- Extent
- 544 pages
- Format
- B-format paperback
- ISBN
- 0-9541303-8-3
Prizes
- WINNER OF THE COMMONWEALTH WRITERS PRIZE 2003
The Polished Hoe by Austin Clarke
Buy Now Price 7.99
There is a mesmerising stillness to Austin Clarke’s latest novel . . . Out of a single act of retribution [he] has spun an entire history, one in which freedom, love and even languor all have their place
— New York Times
Bimshire, 1952. The Sergeant of the island’s police force is called to hear a murderous confession. A lifetime of tragic compromise told in a single night. Layers of disturbing history unfold as Mary-Mathilda – fair-skinned mistress of plantation manager Mr Bellfeels – weaves her intimate story of passion, motherhood and loss culminating in a gruesome revenge.
Respect to Tindal Street Press for bringing to the UK this soaring and sorrowful novel of Caribbean life… Austin Clarke creates a seething panorama of sex, race and power… The novel’s language proves as lush, seductive – and dangerous – as its landscape
— The Independent
The beauty of The Polished Hoe lies in the poetry of its telling and the marvellous voice of Mary-Mathilda. The value of the novel lies in its patient exploration of the sacrifices that are made for the sake of survival
— The Washington Post
An extraordinary tale of lust and oppression… a beautiful, light-skinned ‘black’ woman [is] forced by the ambition of her mother and the sexual appetite of her colonial master to live a dangerous double life as beneficiary and plaything of a society steeped in racial cruelty
— The Times