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THE ABENG BOOK CLUBPresents a Discussion of

“Lover’s Leap”
By Horane Smith

Two young slaves have eyes for each other, while their master’s daughter has similar
intentions. A 1700ft. Cliff overlooking the turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea is their
secret hideout – a hideout with deadly consequences. As the drama unfolds, the three
players are faced with choices……Come and discuss the book with the author.

SATURDAY, March 25, 2023
7:30pm – 9:00pm DST

Please Join Us Via Zoom at

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88076442306?pwd=dFVMaTdMMFZISWZ3TEU3TlB5WDNHQT09

Meeting ID: 880 7644 2306
Pass Code: 368145

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LOVER’S LEAP NOVEL SUBJECT OF NEW INTERNATIONAL STUDY

One of Horane Smith’s most popular novels, Lover’s Leap: Based on the Jamaican Legend is attracting international attention again. The novel, published to international acclaim in London, England in June 1999, is the subject of a major study that focuses on the enslaved African in Caribbean literature as it affects master-slave relationships.

The study “Fight, Love, and Flee, Cognitive Dissonance in Horane Smith’s Lover’s Leap,” has been published in Orbis Litterarum, an international journal devoted to the study of European and American literature. Concentrating on literary theory and the principles of literary history and criticism, Orbis Litterarum publishes articles of a theoretical nature and analyses of specific works genres periods.

The study’s author Noha F. Abdelmotagally is associate professor at the Department of English, Faculty of Al-Alsun (Languages), Ain Shams University, Cairo, where she teaches literature and research methodology. She is interested in comparative studies. She has published several articles, both in English and in Arabic, on literature and interdisciplinary studies, feminism, ecology, and sociology. She has participated in various conferences and research projects and supervised a number of dissertations.

Professor Abdelmotagally noted, “The subjectivity of the enslaved African is underexplored in the critical literature on Caribbean slavery, and besides, psychoanalysis in Caribbean literature is an underused critical approach.” She said Horane Smith “is one of the writers who breathe life into the past in their texts. Smith retraces and connects up with the past through the gateway of legends that usually form part of the group’s history, documenting and reinterpreting crucial historical moments. He uses legends to reconceptualize a past that has been deliberately distorted in white discourse. The ceaseless presence of the past in his texts also enables him to uncover what is hushed up in history and literature.”

The study tackles the subject of mixed relationships in plantation life and the emotions and behaviours that emerged, especially among slaves. The professor said she was, “enticed to braid Leon Festinger’s Cognitive Dissonance theory (1957) with Frantz Fanon’s “psychoanalytical interpretation of the black problem” in Black Skin White Masks (1952) to delve deep into Jerome’s (Lover’s Leap’s main character) inner self and examine how he responds to attitude and behavior inconsistencies produced within various contexts of hegemonic power.”

The study is extensive and cites various authors and experts in the field of psychoanalysis, historians and sociologists, to give credence to her conclusive theory of cognitive dissonance (two-ness) in Jerome Stewart.  “By breaking open the past’s Pandora’s Box, Smith raises the concepts of identity and identification. Conjuring the past is his sonde for renegotiating the present and improving the future. The encompassing view and universal concerns of Lover’s Leap create a kind of identification that crosses the spatio- temporal borders of slavery. Smith stresses the direct relation between the absence of selfhood and physical and/or mental enslavement. Most modern Caribbean black men, still accommodate ‘their psyche to racist information,’ and psychologically and largely depend on the ‘colonial and Eurocentric knowledge systems’ for identification (Sutherland, 2011, 1187). They still submit to the white culture supremacy and racial values—the leading ideology up to the present time—which is why they do not reach a state of real harmony. Like Jerome, they bear a double burden: they are deprived of their own culture and, concurrently, are prevented from really entering the white hegemonic culture. Smith attempts to raise the Caribbean black men’s awareness and understanding of the institutions of slavery and the colonial forces that have conspired to disturb their psyches and de- Africanize them, making them lose touch with their harmonious selves and their roots,” the Professor noted.

Horane Smith is the author of fourteen novels; seven of them explore slavery themes in Jamaica and North America. Lover’s Leap remains his best-selling novel 20-years after publication.  Dawn at Lover’s Leap, the sequel to Lover’s Leap: Based on the Jamaican Legend was a finalist in the USA Booknews Bestbook Award for Historical Fiction. Smith was born at Yardley Chase, St. Elizabeth, the same district where Lover’s Leap is situated. The site is currently one of the major attractions on Jamaica’s south coast and copies of the novel are also available there for sale as well as major online retailers and at www.horanesmith.com.

More information on the study is available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/oli.12212#

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Horane Smith confirms for Palaver International Literary Festival

One of the most prolific Caribbean-Canadian novelists of his generation, Horane Smith comes to Palaver 2016 with12 published titles; a growing reputation as a writer; and tributes and accolades from many who are themselves established.

The 2016 Palaver International Literary Festival takes place in Wasaga Beach, Ontario, August 6 and 7, 2016.
Horane Smith’s first success, Lover’s Leap: [ISBN: 0 75410 589] was published in the United Kingdom in 1999. Over the next 15 years, Horane was to complete 11 other books, including:

  • Underground to Freedom (2000)
  • Port Royal (2001)
  • The Lynching Stream (2003)
  • Reggae Silver (2004)
  • Dawn at Lover’s Leap (the sequel) (2006)
  • Seven Days in Jamaica. (2008)
  • Marooned in Nova Scotia – A Story of the Jamaican Maroons in Canada (2010)
  • When A Marriage Goes Blue (2014)
  • The Will To Live (2015)
  • Shortcut to Hell (2015)

This list of titles, published in such a relatively short period, is indeed impressive. However, comments about his writing have been equally impressive.
Lover’s Leap attracted attention on both sides of the Atlantic. A tragic love story which survived European enslavement of Africans in the Caribbean, Smith’s Lover’s Leap gave new life to this haunting, romantic Jamaican folk tale. It was selected as one of two novels to be used in a case study into mixed-fixed relations at the 10th International Conference on the Social Sciences and the Humanities, in Montreal, Canada, in 2012.

“Their secret meeting place was a stunningly beautiful 1700-foot cliff overlooking the turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea. Could their love remain a secret forever? A choice had to be made…between wealth or poverty, slavery or freedom, true love or lust.”

British best-selling British author, the late John Prebble recognized Smith’s talent when he commented on Lover’s Leap: “…read it with great admiration. …One of our best emerging writers.” And Priscilla Cotterall, British book reviewer described it as“propelling…vividly defined”. “Enough suspense to keep you turning the pages,” wrote Colin Rickards, Canadian book reviewer; while the Ottawa Citizen commented: “Horane Smith is no ordinary novelist.” And in Jamaica, the setting for the centuries-old tale, Barbara Ellington of the Daily Gleaner stated: “Once you have started you will want to finish it.”

Lover’s Leap was quickly followed by Underground to Freedom, a novel about the relentless pursuit of freedom from slavery in the ‘Deep South’ of the United States to the ‘promised land’ of Canada. This book was described by a high school teacher in Kentucky as “…a compelling, touching chronicle of a thirst for freedom.”

Horane Smith was born in a country rich with history. Indeed, its notorious city of Port Royal, at one time the haunt of some of the most vicious pirates that ever sailed the high seas came to be regarded as the wickedest city in the Western Hemisphere. Smith’s Port Royal, published in 2001, brought him a fair measure of respect from literary critics. Phillip Mascoll, then at the Toronto Star newspaper complimented: “If only historical textbooks were as well written.” Colin Rickards felt: “Horane Smith has grown from strength to strength and isn’t afraid to take on a big canvas. Read it!”

Lynching Stream, published in 2003, brought forth more positive comments. Denise Burnett (CIUT-FM89.5) said: Wow! A very good read. I’m recommending it for my book club.” Bryan Rigg, author/reviewer (Covered and Bound, CHRY-105.5-FM.) was unequivocal:“A wonderful story, I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

In Marooned in Nova Scotia, Horane Smith tells the story of a fearless Maroon warrior who, in 1796, along with his compatriots became the first settlers from the Caribbean to settle in Canada.
His 13th novel Morant Bay: Based on the Jamaican Rebellion is set for publishing later this year or early next year. The novel is set in 1865 Jamaica, when the struggle for better working and living conditions for former slaves, erupted in a major rebellion from which emerged two of the nation’s national heroes.

Horane Smith comes to the Palaver International Literary Festival with an impressive body of work and decades of experience and talent to share. He is the first recipient of the BURLA Award for outstanding contribution to African-Canadian and Caribbean Literature. He has also been recognized by the Jamaican Diaspora Foundation Canada for outstanding contribution to Jamaican literature.

Horane appears at the festival’s Books and Authors event at Wasaga Beach Area 4 on Sunday August 7, where the day begins with a magnificent themed Caribbean Brunch Buffet presented by the award-winning Chef Selwyn Richards.
www.horanesmith.com

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My E-Books on AmazonKindle

Now, you can purchase most of my printed books in e-books  on AmazonKindle, Barnesandnoble’s Nook;  Kobo, Itunes and Smashwords.com

Available only on Amazon Kindle $5:49
Available only on Amazon Kindle $5:49

Seven Days in Jamaica
Also Available on Amazon Kindle $5.65

Underground to Freedom
Also Available on Amazon Kindle $7.05

Reggae Silver
Also Available on Amazon Kindle $5.63

Lover's Leap: Based on the Jamaican Legend
Also Available on Amazon Kindle $5.49

Dawn at Lover's Leap: The Jamaican Legend Continues
Also Available on Amazon Kindle $7.00

By the Rivers of Babylon
Also Available on Amazon Kindle $7.24

Available only on AmazonKindle $5.61
Available only on AmazonKindle
$5.61

Available only on AmazonKindle $7.06
Available only on AmazonKindle
$7.06