Carnival

William Fletcher is an aspiring novelist who has come to New York to escape his affluent West Indian roots. A chance meeting in a Greenwich Village bar reunites him with two of his childhood companions, Laurence and the vivacious Rachel, and together the three make a liquor-soaked pledge to return 'home' to Trinidad for the annual carnival. Recovering from the endless ecstasy of the festival, they venture to the mysterious Hell Valley in the hope that this secret paradise will allow them to begin anew. But even here the demons of history, prejudice and hatred violently intrude, as the novel's startling conclusion forces all to face both the power - and impotence - of human resilience and human love.