Title: Providence Pond

Author: Beresford McLean

Publisher: Anancy Books

Reviewer: Paul H. Williams

The picture on the cover of Providence Pond looks like a scene from a fairy tale. The Library of Congress categorises it as inspirational folklore, magical realism and historical fiction. It has something for every reader. Yet, it is much more than that; it's about family and the preservation of traditions. Sentimental, you might call it, for though it is fictitious, the story is not far departed from local folklore.

Beresford McLean was born in western St Mary. He attended and taught high school in Kingston. In 1970, McLean emigrated to the United States where he studied physics and subsequently worked in engineering. His current focus is writing. Broken Gourds, his first inspirational folklore, was published to great acclaim in 2002. Providence Pond, his second novel, came three years later.

Watery vaults

The pond at Providence has been collecting the water running from the hills, but it has also been storing the records of the events that happened around it in its watery vaults. It has seen many a romance and ritual. It has been cleansing the bodies and souls of the smitten and the weary. It draws you to it by its sparkling beauty, but it also pushes you away. Everything happens in and around Providence Pond.

Paralysed

"The picnic was scheduled at Providence Pond where the lad's first seizure had paralysed him almost to death and where his mother lost her life trying to save his. It was whispered that a great beast had reared from the deep, frightening Lev into his first convulsions. No one else had ever seen the monster, but fear of it had diminished in Providence. From then, Lev was always forbidden from the pond, the thing he cherished most."

In Providence Pond, McLean spun a family love saga, spanning four decades, from to 1880-1921, set in the district of Providence, west St Mary. It's about the merging of several families, the Kumina and the regular ones, and their struggles. The titles of some of the chapters speak for themselves: Family Principles, Charming Aunts, Aunts and Uncles, Family Business, Family Ties, Sister for a Princess, Child Support, Parents at Breakfast.

And where there is family, there is love and resentment. Providence Pond is replete with romance and love for family. Put into the mix headmaster Henry Love. There are also moments of unrequited love, confusion, romance gone awry, and unwanted propositions. The interrelationships are complex, if not complicated, but fundamental to them is the longing and yearning for, and the manifestation of love. That's why "Puncus St John and Miss Hene held hands as they watched. In that same solemn moment beneath the bright, golden moon, they kissed and blessed the space with love."

But if the family is central to the story, so is Kumina, a religion to some, but a cult to others. It came to the attention of the residents of Providence with the sudden appearance of Asa, the ageing Kumina king, as Bem was about to kill Vijay, at the edge of the pond, for impregnating his wife.

Mighty words

"In slow nervous steps, Vijay Boydell moved back. Stumbling, he fell. Suddenly, over the click of Bem's gun came the mighty words: 'Mercy!'

"Eyes turned, seeing a tall, angular man. His round, clean-shaven head glistening in the sunlight. Boldly, he approached the group."

With stunning descriptions the strange world of Kumina unfolded and thrived, despite the authorities' effort to eradicate it. They likened it to necromancy; "demonic" they called it, but it was potent and unwilling to die.

"As soon as the throng had descended the slopes, they formed a second, larger ring around the cotton tree. Congo and Miss Hene turned to face Asa and Nweka. Just then the thunder drums vibrated in deep resonance and Congo started to jump. Miss Hene joined him, as if electrified. Asa, Nweka and all the saints, from Lev to Leroy, and all their escorts started to dance. The excitement raged and the earth rocked with Kumina spirit."

Kumina traditions

Though fabricated, the book gives an insight into the mystical and somewhat scary Kumina traditions. "Not really dead bodies, Kisi. But bodies of our dearly beloved, whose spirits have joined the Light. We care for the bodies so that the spirits of those who have crossed over, those who care for us enough to revisit us, can use those bodies on their return. The spirits of our dearly beloved may have gone on, but not forever."

Chronicling births and deaths, mysterious events and disappearance of dead bodies, Asa's 'Stepping' through time and space, the reincarnation of Paul Bogle's spirit, inter alia, Providence Pond transports you to a different era and place. But did I read of a possible suicide and foreclosures?

It's a delightful read, a cultural feast!