Santiago’s Purple Skies at Morning’s Light
Santiago’s Purple Skies at Morning’s Light
Father’s heart quickened. Had he not read somewhere that a lone Hawthorne could well be the abode of fairies. Stuff and nonsense, he thought to himself, as he took a deep breath and laughed, hesitant no longer.
“Hi ya,” the woman called out to him, as she tossed her wet hair disarmingly and extended her pale worker’s hand. “Hi, I’m Carlita O’Brien,” she said, “I’m from a farm just over there on the rise. And who might you be?”
Father said that the lilt in her voice had sounded playful and her dewy complexion was reminiscent of a wild flower; and he assured me that he would not have been surprised to learn that she was fey, for her green eyes seemed full of ancient wisdom.
It must have taken a great deal of effort for my father to set his shyness aside and proceed to become better acquainted. And when he opened his mouth, he surprised himself when words came out at all.
“My name’s Tom,” He said hesitantly, finding it almost impossible to be coherent, “I’m visiting from Canada.”
Written in an almost autobiographical style, the story is told through the eyes of Kathleen, a 16-year-old girl from Northern Ontario who loses both of her parents early in the tale and now finds herself unemployed in Toronto and boarding with a friend of a friend, an elderly Jamaican gentleman, Walter T. Through meeting with the other two young women boarders, Claudia and Gracie, Kathleen joins them and her host on a trip to Jamaica when Claudia inherits an old building, Santiago House, that is located nearby the famous mansion belonging to the White Witch of Rose Hall Plantation. The witch was famous for taking male slaves as her lovers, then torturing and murdering them. The house that Claudia has inherited was where the White Witch also kept a young Spanish-speaking youth called Santiago.
Kathleen meets and befriends several of the local folk and hears the stories. Claudia’s falling in with some shady characters results in villains with guns running about the property. Claudia becomes possessed by the White Witch. Kathleen discovers the tunnels beneath Santiago House and the bones of some of the Witch’s victims. She also meets the handsome young man, David, who is working for the group interested in conserving Santiago House. Rose Hall is already a tourist attraction.
After harrowing escapes and adventures, Claudia, although still perilously ill, is rescued from the White Witch through a religious experience at a nunnery. Her doctor saves her, and they marry. Claudia decides she has had enough of ghosts and signs the house over to Kathleen. Gracie has fallen for a neighbouring farmer, and Kathleen is head over heels about David. During an excavation on the Santiago House tunnels, David is almost killed in an explosion and a tunnel collapse. He is rescued by Kathleen. Gracie and the farmer marry, and, in the end, all is well between David and Kathleen. David’s gift to her, which he recovered from the tunnel, is a painting by Santiago of the house.
Described by the author as speculative fiction, Santiago’s Purple Skies at Morning’s Light starts slowly, but the pace increases once the group reaches Jamaica. The author makes good use of local dialects and the description of the food. The novel might appeal to lovers of tales of slowly budding romance and possession by evil spirits. All the main characters survive, and the book has a happy ending.
Ronald Hore, involved with writer’s groups for several years, dabbles in writing fantasy and science fiction in Winnipeg, Manitoba, under the pen name R. J. Hore.