Paradise Once
Olive Senior
(Author)
Description
Paradise Once is a sweeping historical novel that brings to life the resiliency of the indigenous Taíno people of the Caribbean, whose culture was virtually destroyed within two generations of their "discovery" by Christopher Columbus in 1492.
In 1513 in Cuba, an entire village is wiped out by Spanish forces for no discernible reason. Had the villagers offended their spiritual guides--the cemíes--as one faction claimed, by incorporating foreign practices?
Four youthful survivors escape the massacre--three indigenous and one African runaway. They start off on separate perilous paths, not knowing they have been chosen by the cemíes to carry out a sacred mission--to ensure the survival of a Sacred Bundle that will enable a Taíno revival in future generations. But first, an epic spiritual battle must be played out.
In this love song to the Caribbean, Olive Senior authentically evokes the physical and spiritual worlds of its First Peoples and the survivors--indigenous and African--who will become the resistance fighters known in history as Cimarrones or Maroons.
Product Details
| Publisher | Akashic Books, Ltd. |
| Publish Date | June 03, 2025 |
| Pages | 352 |
| Language | English |
| Type |  Hardback |
| EAN/UPC | 9781636142272 |
| Dimensions | 8.6 X 5.8 X 1.3 inches | 0.9 pounds |
About the Author
Reviews
In Paradise Once, Olive Senior achieves what no other Caribbean novelist has done before--capture in a poignantly detailed story the human and environmental catastrophe of the early years of the Columbian encounter. Exquisitely researched and steeped in the language and worldview of the Taíno people, this is a historical novel like no other, one grounded in Senior's complete immersion into a world just becoming aware of its imminent disappearance, a world she fiercely and vividly brings back to life in its richness and magic.--Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert, author of Creole Religions of the Caribbean
Olive Senior's Paradise Once is a powerful historical novel that vividly portrays a crucial period in the lives of the Taíno people. Senior's work weaves history and mythology, capturing the genesis and heart of Caribbean culture and showcasing her incomparable talent.--Edwidge Danticat, author of Krik? Krak!
Arrival of the Snake-Woman has consolidated [Olive Senior's] reputation as one of the most accomplished writers of short fiction and as one of the Caribbean's finest creative minds.-- "Caribbean Week, on Arrival of the Snake-Woman"
At every level of her stories' constructions, Senior works deftly . . . dealing with open palms in the deep wells of remembrance, ancestry, and a crosshatch of colonizing scars, this fiction looks face-upwards to the mountains of multiple Jamaicas for hope, home, and daily bread.-- "Trinidad Guardian, on The Pain Tree"
Senior is particularly deft at exploring social class, maternal terrain, and distance. The territory she writes about could not interest this reader more . . . Senior skillfully depicts the space between mother and children. . . What's remarkable at times is Senior's subtle depiction of family tension, the prodding between mother and daughter, the apprehension of what the one does or mainly does not know of the other.-- "Globe and Mail, on Dancing Lessons"
The entire future of Caribbean prose is mapped out in this collection of stories, and I don't know a single Caribbean writer who doesn't reread it often.--Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings, on Summer Lightning
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