Poonky Doodles: A Novel of Growth and Survival

We can never learn too much about the specifics of dysfunctional parents, those unfortunates who unknowingly, and only rarely with malice aforethought, create and pass on to their children so much havoc and such a heritage of hurt. How such wretched behaviour affects youngsters is, therefore, always worth the telling.
On the Caribbean island of Trinidad during WWII, Arthur (nicknamed Poonky Doodles by his godfather), is born on Christmas Day. In this tropical paradise, his mother, Carmen, refuses to hold him, a bad sign of things to come. Over time, Arthur finds out just how conflicted her feelings are, and how they drastically affect his life.
A sensitive and creatively gifted child, Arthur’s relationships with his godfather, and with Naomi Galilee, a black woman who is a member of the household, are paramount throughout his earliest years.
Things change dramatically when Carmen marries an American GI and moves to the U.S., bringing along Arthur, his younger brother, and their maternal grandmother.
Poonky Doodles shows Arthur growing from birth to a young man, and the triumphs and tragedies he encounters along the way.
With a strong flavour of the Caribbean, and leavened throughout with humour as well as wisdom, Poonky Doodles is a story that will astonish, disturb, and surprise you with laughter and with tears.