Blessed Is the Fruit Hardcover - 1997

From the publisher

This Lyrical New Novel by acclaimed young Trinidadian author Robert Antoni is told in the haunting voices of two West Indian women, both thirty-three years of age: Lilla, the white mistress of a once grand but now rotting Colonial mansion, and Vel, her black servant. After living alone with Lilla for ten years, Vel finds herself pregnant, a fact she tries to keep hidden from her mistress. Her efforts to abort the child -- by drugs, bush medicine, and spells of Obeah magic -- fail, and after one last frantic and bloody attempt, Lilla intervenes to save both Vel and her baby. She carries Vel upstairs to her bedroom (Lilla's private sanctuary, where Vel has never been allowed) and lays her in her own bed. It is here that the novel begins and ends, and from this safe place, as they address this rescued unborn child, that the two women's braided voices emerge to tell the stories of their lives. The resulting narrative is nothing less than a brightly colored tapestry of life in the Caribbean, a remarkable tale of family, myth, religion, and always, language. It is also a testament to Lilla and Vel's shared humanity and shared love for the child to come.