Tim Bartholomew's 'love letter' to Tobago

I read a lot in my childhood, but as an adult, novel reading has been a rare pursuit. If a novel doesn’t grab me by the first sentence or, by the end of the first page, forget it.

I read UK author Tim Bartholomew’s book Angel In Tobago when a mutual friend sent me a digital preview copy to read.

The book, which the author touts as his “love letter to Tobago,” grabbed me from the get-go, keeping me riveted until the last page – partly because of the style of writing, plot and characters and also because, as I live in Tobago, I found myself trying to decide whether any of the familiar-sounding personalities and places were known to me.

The book so drew me into its world that even after reading it, I felt I was still ensconced in its entrancing embrace.

Tim’s style is casual and easy-going, infused with a dry wit that I appreciated and enjoyed; I was laughing or chuckling aloud quite often throughout. The main character, Gabriel Cassidy, is affable and carries the story well, with keen observations and a sense of discovery and adventure.

Everyday moments, objects and events are presented with refreshing descriptive twists, giving insight into the author’s remarkable mind. I enjoy creative works that show me the psyche of the person behind them. I was able to glean that Tim Bartholomew is an intelligent, creative, quick-witted individual – an assumption that was confirmed when I met him in the flesh at the book’s launch at Shore Things on February 4.

Usually when someone writes a novel I do not actively think about or have an awareness of them while reading. They remain a distant name on the cover. However, in this case, the author came to life, seeming as much a part of the book as anyone else within it – quite like a “fly on the wall,” witnessing and commenting drily on unfolding events.

Angel in Tobago was very much a visual reading experience; I often felt that I was watching a movie. An interesting concept for the film version would be to have the unfolding events seen through the eyes of a housefly. As houseflies sometimes do, this insect observer would follow the main character, Gabriel, around – at times, buzzing near one of the special drinks that the mysterious and vivacious Lily would offer him...or humming about inside of his old Honda...or pestering any one of the questionable characters encountered. Would such a movie end abruptly when the house fly eventually gets swatted or sprayed with Bop?

Given the author’s passion for birds and bird photography, a movie version of the novel could also be delivered from a “bird’s-eye view.” I would cast a motmot in that role, as they often sit around like silent observers, unobtrusive, curious. The fact that the motmot makes its nest by burrowing a long tunnel into banks of earth lends itself to this “avian camera” taking us symbolically through a dark passageway to another world – one of the paranormal, superstition, corruption and dark intrigue lurking beneath the sun-sea-sand surface of “island paradise.”

This Englishman’s numerous visits to Tobago have endowed him with sufficiently intimate knowledge of and experiences with seen and unseen aspects of the island’s personality and culture.

With this insight, he pens ruffling, intriguing content, then pivots and balances the suspense with humour inspired by real-life events experienced by him and his wife, Julie on their visits to this “gem of an island” (his words).

Although fictional, this humorous thriller is, unfortunately, not too far from what could, increasingly, be the truth. Apart from the insidious criminal aspect, one of its potent “fictional” situations involves what is glaringly reflective of plans to destroy Rocky Point and build a massive hotel...something that (as we learn in the foreword by Faraaz Abdool) was unknown to the author at the time of writing seven years ago. Intuitive activism at its best.

“I’m not entirely sure why you would need another hotel to ruin the most beautiful beach on the planet,” he posited at the book launch.

A review is a personal thing, so obviously everyone who reads the book will have their own views and experience of it. But I would say Angel in Tobago is definitely worth checking out.

Angel in Tobago is available at Shore Things, Radical Water Sports, Batik and Blue Waters Inn in Tobago and at Paper Based, Junckollage and Forever Radiant in Trinidad