Author Description

"Election time in Barbados means money" said Old Sam, "spending money like you just going into a back room and printing it". And as election fever grips the island, he could not be more right.When the leader of the Conservative Party departs from the political scene, the forthcoming election is thrown wide open. In St. Anne's, Sam Martin, a lifelong Labour man and a much respected local figure, decides to stand for the House of Assembly. Nearby, urged on by his ambitious and attractive wife, the politically inexperienced Piker Green offers his candidacy to the Democrats. The issue appears to be simple: the virtues of honesty versus the sly crafts of ambition. But as the rival campaigns get under way, it becomes all too clear that the many uncommitted voters are none too interested either in principles or politics, only in the depth of each candidate's pocket. With each vote at a premium, the voter sells to the highest bidder.This humorous and vastly entertaining novel about electioneering in the Caribbean takes a long look at democracy in action. It has all the rowdy vitality of the hustings, the bustle of party meetings, of plot and counter-plot behind the scenes and the shameless wheedlings of a community that only too well knows its price. But if this is politics without morality, there is a moral that is as true as democracy is old: that it is not always the best man who wins.