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Dog-Heart
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Dog-Heart

By Diana McCaulay
Published by Peepal Tree Press
ISBN 9781845231231
Spring 2012

Synopsis

Dog-Heart charts the attempt of a middle-class single mother to save a boy from the Jamaican ghetto. Dog-Heart tells the story from their two alternating points of view. Whilst engaging the reader in a tense and absorbing narrative, the novel deals seriously with issues of race and class.

Author's Biography

Diana McCaulay is a Jamaican writer. She has been a secretary, insurance executive, racetrack steward, mid-life student, and social and environmental activist. She is CEO of the Jamaican Environment Trust and recipient of the Euan P. McFarlane Award for Outstanding Environmental Leadership. Dog-Heart won the 2008 Jamaican National Literature Award.

Reviews

‘Diana McCaulay’s debut novel Dog-Heart is a harsh and poignant tableau of . . . the relationship between poverty, education, and crime . . .’ – Lisa Allen-Agostini, Caribbean Review of Books ‘Dog-Heart is a profoundly moving story of the ghetto and a middle-class woman’s effort to make a difference . . . It resonates with fear and courage . . . ’ – Mary Hanna, Jamaica Observer ‘My admiration for Diana McCaulay’s debut novel, Dog-Heart, is unbounded’ – Ralph Thompson, Jamaican Literature ‘In Dog-Heart, Diana McCaulay navigates many of the pitfalls that could have befallen a less skilled writer and has produced a work of notable achievement within the genre.’ – Geoffrey Philp ‘Dog-Heart is an uncompromising story imaginatively told’ – Annie Paul, Active Voice ‘She writes with an honesty to her story and characters that is what we mean when we say a writer has courage.’ – Nicholas Laughlin, Barnes & Noble (Editorial Review) Price £ 9.99 Paperback

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Reader Comments

Dog Heart is a triumph. Its such an exquisite, nuanced, detailed account of a dynamic that pervades and defines our class structure and is extraordinarily important. Often I don’t feel we’re doing much to change socially produced inequalities but Diana McCaulay’s voice shows how we can produce art reflective of who we are in the hope that we can see ourselves and do better.
Dog-heart has put a mirror in front of all of us and forced us to confront some of the realities of our paradise home. DM deserves to know that she hit a spot, sore as it may be.
A great story highlighting some of the problems in Jamaican society. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
great book - everyone in jamaica should read it - excellent social commentary, thought-provoking, and beautifully written - read it!
Very sensitive exploration of the deep personal and social conflicts in urban Jamaican society across the class and racial barriers. No heroes here!