Otancia Noel’s wonderful fictional collection Town on Fire, is based around the 1990 coup event in Trinidad and Tobago and explores the complexity of life for various individuals. The author draws on her own experiences of growing up on The Jamaat Al Muslimeen Compound in Trinidad and also being the daughter of someone who was involved in the 1990 coup attempt.

However, her literary skills and imaginative mind allow us to look at these events in particular, but life in general from a perspective that we may never have realised existed. It is no wonder that she has achieved so many awards and accolades (see credits).

The main thread in most of the stories is The Compound, The Khalif and Abi, and an exploration of life before the coup and after. The themes in the stories highlight culture, family ties, man’s need for power, greed, abuse, rape, flawed leadership in the name of God, religious fanaticism, the psychological bond between leaders and their followers, the issue of internal migration in families moving to The Compound, external migration with the exodus of nationals to Syria all these elements are linked to The Compound.

Stories are shared from within and moves with how the compound and the characters were shaped. Keturah and others weaving stories about their family, like her father’s second marriage in Bam Bam See Am Look Thing and on The Khalif’s persona and stories about other members that we are immersed into this life, its legacy, its unravelling.

There are three stories that are not connected to the others, two folklore tales Pretty Sue, Rahim and Papa Bois and one aboutThe Village Santiwah. The author dedicates these three stories to

her grandmother who she credits with teaching her the art form of traditional oral storytelling. This book is testimony to her grandmother’s prowess as a teacher and to Noel’s own dedication as a student.

In the credits at the end of the book you will see that some of these stories were previously published as short stories winning the author many great accolades and awards.

The author has expressed her immense gratitude to the publishers, magazines, awarding bodies, judges and all the great individuals involved, as well as for all the feedback, advice and opportunities to travel that have resulted from all of that.