Jamaicanpatois Stories

In a quiet rural community, a little girl watches a company arrive with promises, machines, and smoke. Told through the innocent eyes of Tea Pot, The Arrival of Smoke follows one family as land is taken, water is stolen, and survival is dressed up as opportunity. It's a story about work, silence, fathers who believe, mothers who resist, and what a child understands long before adults admit the truth. Some things come slowly. Others arrive like smoke-and never really leave. A postcolonial coming-of-age novel rooted in Caribbean social realism.

From she a 7, Arielle face pain. Her real father dead in a car accident-he was her safety net. Her mother spiral into depression, and not long after, bring een a new man-Trevor. From she turn 11, Trevor start fi watch her too hard, and touch her when her mother nah look. By the time she a 13, she get bullied bad at school because she poor and quiet. No one know what she really going through at home. At 14, she find out she pregnant-but she too shame, too scared fi talk. Her mother accuse her of being "slack" and "looking man." She beg her mother fi believe her, but she sickly and weak-minded, and she side wid Trevor. They beat her. They run her out. Arielle get help from an old church sister who give her shelter. But when she try reach out again-her mother dead from cancer, and Trevor disappear. Arielle now haffi raise a child, heal her trauma, and figure out if she can love or even trust anybody again.

Kaliyana is a boss in every sense of the word. A young Jamaican entrepreneur, respected, disciplined, self-made. On the outside, she's calm, collected, untouchable. The kind of woman who builds empires before twenty-five and never lets fear show on her face. But behind closed doors, something isn't right. Someone is watching her. At first, it's small things-an unknown number, a voice that knows her real name, a truck that lingers too long outside her dream home. Kali tells herself she's overthinking. Strong women don't panic. Strong women keep going. Until the night fear comes too close. When a stalker tries to take what doesn't belong to him, Kali does the unthinkable-she defends herself. One pull of the trigger changes everything. Not because she wanted violence... but because survival demanded it. That night, Jahlani sees her. A badman. A don. A man who's lived by rules written in blood and loyalty. He isn't supposed to fall for anyone-especially not a woman who looks soft but moves like she's ready for war. But watching Kali stand her ground-unbroken, shaking on the inside but still standing-does something to him. From that moment on, Jahlani doesn't just see a woman in danger. He sees a queen who doesn't know she's about to be guarded by a devil who chooses her. She doesn't need saving. But he protects her anyway. And in a world where love is risky and enemies don't miss twice, power meets protection-and neither of them will ever be the same.