The Heart Does Not Bend
by Makeda Silvera

In her first novel, The Heart Does Not Bend , Makeda Silvera--cofounder of Sister Vision Press and noted for her short fiction--points her outsider scopes straight at the drama within the dysfunctional Galloway clan of Kingston , Jamaica .

Spunky youngster Molly, daughter of the elusive Glory, is the narrative pacemaker of The Heart , but the acerbic tongue lashings dealt by her grandmother Maria--Mama to most--are its tainted lifeblood. Mama's a God-fearing, hard-living hellion convinced that "dere is no such thing as a honest relationship."

She raises Molly, who even from an early age copes by waltzing on eggshells and escaping to a secret life. Molly endures Mama's incessant sniping about her own offspring--"Peppie had no guts, Glory didn't love her enough, Freddie had abandoned her, and Mikey was on the road to destruction."

Only the Good Lord and the little lord Vittorio--Mama's despicable rogue grandson from her freeloading son Freddie--are spared her verbal wrath.

As adults, the Galloways --except "battyman" Mikey--all flee the Kingston crucible seeking better lives abroad, including, finally, Mama and 14-year-old Molly, who follow Glory to Toronto . Once there, proximity breeds contempt, leaving a wised-up Molly resigned to Glory's vacuousness yet haunted by Mama's guilt-trippy clutches.

The Heart Does Not Bend and neither does Mama, sitting in vengeful judgement of those who happen to love her.

--sigcino moyo

original publication: Amazon.ca : Editorial Reviews