Coup d'état

About the Book

About the Author

Theodore Raffudeen was born in Leguan, British Guiana, in 1947. In 1959 his family moved to Georgetown. Its beauty impressed him. In 1962 that beauty vanished in the savage race riots that swept the country arid left the capital burning for days. His political awakening began. In 1969, he left to pursue business studies in New York City where he lived for the next thirty-five years. Like EDGAR MITTELHOLZER, a fellow native writer to whom this book is also posthumously dedicated, he is fond of writing of his country of origin, its strong Caribbean flavor and sensibilities, although, geographically speaking, Guyana is in South America. He brings to Coup D’ETAT the frustrations and acrimony, the rare, exotic approach and credentials only a native writer can. His unique blend of Caribbean-American writing is potent and makes for compulsive reading. Mr. Raffudeen is the first Guy-American novelist to give prominence to Indo-Caribbean characters (Hamza and Saleema) in the mainstream novel. He feels that it’s time Indo-Caribbean people are seen in a broader, more representative light: their time has come. A naturalized American, he is currently working on his next novel, Ebony and Sandalwood, a contemporary treatment of Romeo & Juliet.