Pitch Lake is one of the early classics of modern Caribbean writing in English. It focuses on the life of Joe Da Costa, his rise from the ordinariness of shop keeping into the upper reaches of the Portuguese community in Trinidad. It is the story of a man who deliberately and disastrously turns away from his inner self towards a life of glitter which turns to ash. The Novel probes the society's commercialism, snobbery, its materialistic values and prejudices - attitudes stemming from the insecurities and uncertainties of the colonial society of the Caribbean in the 1930s.

By Alfred Mendes

Novel Published by New Beacon Books Ltd