Accolades

Whether you read A PLACE CALLED SCHUGARA while enjoying a Red Stripe in Negril or Ocho Rios or while sipping a hot toddy near flickering flames and crackling wood by your fireplace, you're going on a raucous trip. You'll spend time with unforgettable characters in unexpected places in this big, ambitious book. If you're a real reader, you'll be delighted you picked it up and thrilled you went along for the ride.

--Monroe Anderson

Monroe Anderson is a veteran Chicago journalist. He has penned signed op-ed page columns for the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. In addition, he reported for the National Observer and Newsweek. He was an assistant editor at Ebony magazine. For thirteen years he was Director of Station Services and Community Affairs at WBBM-TV (CBS2), where he was the host and executive producer of its public affairs television program, Common Ground.

From Chicago to the Ohio Valley to the Caribbean, English's characters paint a picture of human frailty and strength. We recognize ourselves in the unfolding....is there ever a real escape or must we carry with us the baggage of our given identity? Reading "Schugara" is, in a sense, exploring the universal themes of good and evil. Great literature forces us to confront injustice and leave our "comfort zone." In "A Place Called Shugara" the power of love teaches us about redemption. Where and when do we find human decency and will it prevail? "Schugara" raises these questions; goodness confronts evil while, at the same time, dignity and worth are found where we least expect. Keep your hands on the steering wheel....you'll need to for the unexpected twists and turns, expertly crafted to keep you moving through life's mysteries. I'm waiting for the movie.

--Roberta L. Raymond, Sociologist, Founder/ Executive Director Oak Park (Illinois) Regional Housing Center.

When it comes to adventure, regarding A Place Called Schugara, Jamaicans would say, “It sell off.” There's Paradise Lost and Paradise Found, characters as disparate as social climbers and policemen, priests and predators, and priests who are predators. This is story-telling at its best, a tapestry of people united by fractious spirits set in a time when the last worn-out century was ending and its Orwellian successor lurked just around the corner. There's love and drama, fulfilled and unfulfilled desires, the lure of the taboo; there's passion and heartbreak, and the pathos of ordinary men and women struggling to make it through to the next day. You will laugh, you will cry, you will turn the next page; Schugara will remain with you when there are no pages left to turn. Schugara is for those addicted to the well-written word; it has "good bones," and meaty ones at that.

-- Chester Francis-Jackson is a columnist for The Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica). His articles have appeared in the Jamaican Observer, the Jamaican Herald, the Caribbean Times, and The New York Times.

A PLACE CALLED SCHUGARA offers an interesting variety of unusual characters, from frustrated and unhappy Midwesterners to shrewdly enterprising Caribbean natives whose colorful patois is entertaining and delightful. Three of those characters--a jaded academic from Chicago, a desperate factory owner from Ohio, and an opportunistic insurance investigator from New Yorkare drawn to a place that lovingly welcomes the three misfits. None is actively seeking spiritual rebirth as the story begins and each has his own reason for traveling to the little island, but the serendipitous result for all three is essentially the same: a renewal of life and spiritual wholeness among the inhabitants of a loving community that lives in a place called Schugara. Along with its colorful characters, the novel also contains a memorable blend of rollicking humor and poignant emotion, qualities that will linger in the memory of every reader.

--Dr. Charles Hanson, Professor Emeritus (English), University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.