Clerise of Haiti

A young domestic worker devoted to her prominent urban employers in Les Cayes, Haiti, Clerise progressively renounces the traditional values of her rural background. When she later marries and opens a small business, class conflicts and divided loyalties develop amid the terror of the Duvalier regime, and she is ultimately caught in the escalation of violence.

Clerise of Haiti is a story of three generations of Haitian women, and covers a thirty year span ending in the late 1970s. Full of humor and resilience, Clerise’s unique perspective into the upper classes and the world of the poor explores the complexities of life in a provincial town and highlights the socioeconomic and political forces at play in Haiti.

CLERISE OF HAITI

The book is now available in French, as Clérise d'Haïti : www.labossierethomas.blogspot.com

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Welcome to the World of Clerise

One late-summer morning in 1985, I took my then three-year-old daughter and her friend to our neighborhood playground. As I watched the girls play, something in the breeze, the trees, the very feel of the air, reminded me of my childhood. Thus began Clerise of Haiti, a story about three generations of Haitian women from Les Cayes, the city of my birth and cradle of my family. Many revisions and title changes later, Clerise’s story is now reaching you, the readers. With her, I invite you to walk the streets of my hometown and meet its people, as their traditional way of life takes a dramatic turn.

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