Under the Silk Cotton Tree

Set in a small village on her native island, Grenadian author Buffong's debut novel vividly captures the rhythm of daily life there and the musical speech of the inhabitants. Flora Williams, the young narrator, chronicles the sometimes tragic experiences of her neighbors, schoolmates and relatives, such as the sudden death by illness of her little sister, Janice, and the indifference of her absentee father in St. Croix. But sorrow never weighs Flora down, for her spirits are uplifted by her intuitive, youthful mother whose tales she retells, including those about an alluring mermaid under the silk cotton tree and a deformed ghost of an old man near the cemetery. Flora herself perceptively and humorously describes her neighbors (``Grenada people always laughing and friendly, even when badmouthing and cursing each other'') and contrasts them with tourists who ``always running as if they have pougatae in they skin.'' One only wishes that Buffong had provided a glossary of island speech for those unfamiliar with it. Nevertheless, Flora is lively and sympathetic, as are the other characters she compellingly describes. (Dec.)