Daizal Samad’s The Sour of Tamarind and Other Stories captures the stories of the trials and traumas that are part of everyday life in Guyana, especially. These stories of real people living real lives are often ignored; at best they are...

Daizal Samad’s The Sour of Tamarind and Other Stories captures the stories of the trials and traumas that are part of everyday life in Guyana, especially. These stories of real people living real lives are often ignored; at best they are placed in tiny sections of newspapers or given an arid thirty- second spot on the internet. The coverage of people’s stories is reduced to an economy of numbers which are read or seen, and quickly forgotten. Samad’s The Sour of Tamarind and Other Stories brings to life what happens when individuals make moral compromises, when teachers exploit children, when one tragedy yields to even more tragedy, when people come to Guyana to spread their religious belief rather than teach. In the shadows, the tales of cruelty and heroism occur; Samad’s work sheds light on the life of lives of his fellow Guyanese. The stories are written in wonderfully clear and simple language. This collection is one of the finest to have come of out Guyana in recent times.