Golden Child: Winner of the Desmond Elliot Prize 2019
Written by Claire Adam
Narrated by Obi Abili
4/5
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About this audiobook
Rural Trinidad: a brick house on stilts surrounded by bush; a family, quietly surviving, just trying to live a decent life in a society.
Clyde, the father, works long, exhausting shifts at the petroleum plant in southern Trinidad; Joy, his wife, looks after the home. Their two sons, 13 years old, wake early every morning to travel to the capital, Port of Spain, for school. They are twins but nothing alike: Paul has always been considered odd while Peter is widely believed to be a genius, destined for greatness.
When Paul goes walking in the bush one afternoon and doesn't come home, Clyde is forced to go looking for him, this child who has caused him endless trouble already, and whom he has never really understood. And as the hours turn to days, and Clyde begins to understand Paul's fate, his world shatters — leaving him faced with a decision no parent should ever have to make.
Claire Adam's devastating first novel compassionately brings to life different ways of experiencing the world. Like the Trinidadian landscape itself, Golden Child is both beautiful and unsettling, a resoundingly human story of aspiration, betrayal and love.
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Reviews for Golden Child
10 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The father’s dilemma and struggle and Paul’s journey. An insight into Trinidadian society & culture. I was gripped by the central turn of events and horrified in turn. Very descriptive writing, evoking place, landscape, weather, texture and human feeling.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was lovely to listen to, it would’ve been a 5⭐️ rating but I’m reserving my 5th star out of respect for Paul. He deserves better but we’re here now.
It’ll probably take me a few days to shake some of these characters.
Props to the narrator for doing justice to this beautiful book. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Greed. Jealousy. Family rivalry. Favouritism. These are just some of the topics that were addressed in this riveting, captivating novel set in my home country. The author paints a vivid picture of a family striving to move beyond the bounds of their circumstances. I loved the strength of the characters, but I was enamoured most of all by Paul Deyalsingh. Paul is underestimated, shoved to the side and often misunderstood. His ultimate sacrifice for his family completely devastated me and in my view became wholly unnecessary. This book evoked so many varying emotions in me, that I still have not recovered.
Definitely worth a read, a re-read and an add to my collection.