"Under the Perfume Tree", titled after Proust's revelation of fragrance as a catalyst for memory, traces West Indian memories back over a span of five hundred years. Each mesmerising story, with its unforgettable cast of characters, opens a window onto the way people from all walks of life have carved out their daily lives to meet the challenges of the region. Through fiction, historical fact, memoirs and reconstruction, time and again the authors show how the populations of these tiny islands have been affected by events overseas, particularly war, natural disaster and social change.Among the contributors to this unusual collection are established fiction writers Willi Chen of Trinidad, sculptor, painter, playwright, his most recent publication "Chutney Power"; Dominican Alick Lazare, author of "Carib and other Stories" and many pieces for radio; Jamaican Beresford McLean, author of "Broken Gourds"; and, Guyanese Ryhaan Shah, author of "A Silent Life".
Published biographers include Jennifer Franco, a Trinidad journalist and author of "When the Ti-Marie Closes"; Barbadian Ezra Griffith, Professor of Psychiatry and of African-American Studies at Yale University, author of "I'm Your Father, Boy"; and, Marina Gottlieb Sarles of the Bahamas is the author of "Sand in My Shoes".The brief memoirs of Privy Councillor John Hazell of Bequia, and the family history by his descendant, solicitor Peter Stone of Trinidad, were each published after the author's death. Grenadian Vera Rickard has written a guide book on Grenada. The collection also introduces contributions by two new writers, Joseph Elias, a Trinidad businessman, and Marlene St Rose of St Lucia."The Macmillan Caribbean Writers" series (MCW) offers a range of writing, not only in novels, novellas and short stories but also in non-fiction adventures, plays for festivals and poetry. Importantly, it provides a forum for new literary talent - introducing the work of the next generation of Caribbean writers as well as classic favourites and new work by more established authors.
Macmillan commissions Caribbean artists to produce the front cover illustrations, which give the series a distinctive and dynamic appearance.