'A Way to Catch the Dust and Other Stories' by Jacob Ross
Published by Mango Publishing Price: £8.99 Reviewed by Susan Yearwood

A Way to Catch the Dust is a collection of short stories written by an accomplished storyteller. An unnamed island is home to a selection of characters whose lives reflect the querulous unpredictability of existence as well as its ecstasy. The book begins with Rum an Coke, a story that previously appeared in SAKS Media's anthology Burning Words, Flaming Images. Here, the protagonist, Norma Brown, is beaten and terrorised by her drug-taking son, Daniel, and makes the kind of decision for which only a mother could let her conscience rest. The story is told with a reserved but lush sense of style that demonstrates an acute ear for language within the narrative and dialogue. It also presents sobering undertones of loss as well as life's redemptive power that runs throughout the collection and that culminates in Mariana's smouldering disaffection in And There Were No Fireflies.
Ross, a Grenadian, creates vignettes of intensity that excite the mind. His writing encapsulates all that is right with Caribbean writing; his assured, challenging style and provoking characterisations are a testament to his own talent and, ultimately, to that of his literary forebears.

Susan Yearwood is currently studying for a Phd in Literature at Sheffield Halam University