In a storied journey which begins in Jamaica, flies to Europe, then Trinidad and Tobago, with stops in Guyana and Venezuela, Marguerite Gordon has chronicled a thrilling tale of life’s vicissitudes.

Chock-full of historical signposts, cultural nuisances and changing scenes, Gordon’s Empires of the Caribbean is a slice into life in the territories visited, with all their intrigue and turmoil.

Set to be fiction, its realness belies this idea.

Of a truth, it is no soap opera, but the pages turn as sand flows through the hourglass to the saga’s end.

The reader is introduced to a seeming ingénue in Tatiana, in Jamaica, but as her character manifests being wise beyond her years and pungent and as layered as an onion. She survives the globe-trotting and faces many a male challenge with aplomb.

Families and relations undergird the storylines and the environment and architectural descriptions peep through just enough to pique interest. From meeting the MacGregors, Belangers, a ranked officer or two, and generational views, the stories stretch to Mafia and strongmen.

Politics, business cunning, and crime weave the stories together across seas, all impacted by indigenous flavours and influences.

Gordon does an excellent job of storytelling, describing scenes with vivid imagery and bringing to the fore each character’s role in the ‘grand scheme’ — with enough characters to hate.

Her handling of the adult themes of sex, what seems like abuse (molestation), drugs and human trafficking, betrayal and emotional violence make for true reflections of their presence as undertones of Caribbean life.

The language is very reader-friendly, with only the need for the occasional Google reference to land essence. The dialogue and attention to phonetics should offer little challenge to the tuned-in reader.

This is not Gordon’s first knack at Empires of the Caribbean, as she noted that she rewrote the stories “better”, after her initial edition, as Caribbean Cartels, in 1990.

Her pen has, however, been active for quite a while, having previously authored two books — a children’s book, Dancer The Little Dog from Mayaro Beach and Manners and Entertaining with Marguerite Gordon: A Guide to Caribbean Life and Style.

Her antecedents also include serving as a newspaper columnist for some 25 years.

Gordon’s early career involves appearances on-stage as a beauty queen — Miss Jamaica 1961 — as well as the silver screen in the first James Bond film, Dr No
, in 1962. She played across from Sean Connery in the role of photographer Annabelle Chung.

In all, Empires of the Caribbean is a love story that shows life at its worst and most exciting. Gordon manages to pour out a soulful 285-pager that is a study in society, business, economics and politics.

With hot toddy on the side table, readers won’t mind that, what started as a relaxed evening, dawns into a new day immersed in its pages.

No empire wins; the reader is the heir.

— MAT