Discerner of Hearts

Susan Patrick is a librarian at Ryerson Polytechnical University.

The discerner of hearts, in the title story of this collection, is a
Jamaican witch doctor who works his magic to cure sickness, both
physical and spiritual, and to cast out spells and evil spirits. Olive
Senior, winner of the 1987 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, has vividly
re-created the physical presence and atmosphere of the Jamaica of the
past and near-present, capturing the language and expressions of
different social classes, from the sophisticated to the superstitious,
with an authentic ring. Family relationships, the adult world seen
unknowing through the eyes of a child, hard lives lived with
disappointments and sadness are the universal themes that run through
these stories, made unique through their distinctly local settings. For
some readers, this collection will be memorable for transporting them to
a new and exotic world of strange vegetation, culture, and language; for
others, perhaps, for transporting them back to a place from their own
the past that they have left behind. A welcome addition to literature
collections.