Tongues on Fire: Caribbean Lesbian Lives and Stories

Janet Money, a former sports editor of the Woodstock Daily
Sentinel-Review, is a London-based freelance writer.

In compiling this collection of Caribbean lesbian stories (both real and
fictional), editor Rosamund Elwin interviewed 16 Caribbean lesbians,
most of whom now live in Canada. The stories, many of which have to do
with coming out, are for the most part engrossing.

Makeda Silvera, in “Man-Royals and Sodomite,” explains the
terminology often used to refer to lesbians on the islands. The
invisibility of lesbians in Jamaica is examined in this essay through
the author’s interviews with family members who know of lesbians but
also choose not to know. Appearing in the fiction section of the book is
Silvera’s “Baby,” a chilling, well-written account of a pair of
lovers being hunted by an intruder.

The interviews reveal much ambivalence on the part of the speakers
about the lesbian/feminist movement in Canada, and specifically in
Toronto. Women talk about not feeling part of a black community, a
lesbian community, or a feminist community. They discuss their struggles
to find family in their new country, and their struggles with not being
able to come out as lesbians in their home countries. There is
thoughtfulness and humor in these accounts. The short stories are also
consistently arresting. The best of the dozen, “Best Friends” by
Ayiah Jahan, depicts the agonies of a teenager who confesses a lesbian
attraction to her best friend, only to be met with horror and
name-calling.

This clever combination of nonfiction and fiction is a valuable
contribution to Canadian lesbian literature.