PHILIPPINE” – GERARD A. BESSON’S FINAL HISTORICAL NOVELS HAVE BEEN RELEASED
The late Trinidadian historian Gérard A. Besson, founder of Paria Publishing in Trinidad and Tobago, left behind three historical novels after his passing in July 2023. A member of the Association of Caribbean Historians, Besson’s work as a historian covers various aspects of Trinidadian and Tobagonian history and culture. He is the recipient of the national Hummingbird Medal Gold, the Lifetime Achiever Heritage Preservation Award from the National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago and an Honorary doctorate from the University of the West Indies. He has written seven fiction and nine non-fiction novels.
Volume 1, called “Philippine: Book First – Children of the Sun” was already completed when he began ailing. He was determined to complete Volume 2 comprising “Philippine: Book Second – Souls on Fire, and Book Third – The Representative Man”, which he accomplished mere days before his final breath. Now totally completed, Paria Publishing has published both books in time for Christmas.
Book First of the Philippine trilogy has an interesting genesis in that it was written during the COVID lockdown and the author happened to meet Peter Readhead via email who turned out to be a wonderful researcher abroad. He sent many of the historical documents which informed the book’s narrative to Trinidad, at a time when no one else was able to go to archives or repositories. This first book is dedicated to him and traces the adventurous life of an 18th century free coloured family in Grenada, Carriacou and Trinidad—with excursions into France, England and, aboard a French corsair raider, all over the Atlantic Ocean. This book captures the lives of the “Children of the Sun” of Jeanette, Free Negro Woman of Grenada, her French husband Honoré Philip, and their children. The various members of the Philip family are sharply etched against the historical backdrop of the Revolutionary Atlantic, when the peoples of the Western World began to strain against the shackles of monarchy and servitude, and uprooted the social order.
Excerpt:
“In the distance he saw that she was returning. He thought to rise and run into the sea, but found that he was incapable of flight. Paralysed, not even his eyes could shift away as she drew closer. She passed quite near, leaving her footprints in the crystal sand. He thought to gather them, but could only manage to put a hand upon the two that were within his reach, believing that he felt the residue of her warmth.”
Philippine Volume 1 has an online component in that the original documents that Besson perused to write the text have been posted on his blog www.caribbeanhistoryarchives.blogspot.com
Volume 11 is dedicated to the author’s long-standing friend, Professor Emerita, Bridget Brereton, who assisted Paria Publishing to edit the book in the year after the author’s passing. Book Second follows the life of Dr. Jean-Baptiste Philip, the “Free Mulatto”, a descendant of Jeannette and Honoré Philip of Book First. As one of the “Souls on Fire” of the early 19th century Romantic Movement, and as an alienist (what would today be called a psychologist), Dr. Philip fought and won the first civil rights case in the New World on behalf of the free coloured people in Trinidad—an achievement that with Emancipation also benefitted the former slaves, and in the long run the entire population—while exploring the effects of colonial prejudice on the psyche of his people.
Excerpt:
“Jean-Baptiste was such a unique man, a doctor of both the body and the mind. He was passionate about us, his family and our cause. His friends abroad, as Fr. De Ridder said in his oration, described him as ‘a Soul on Fire!’ I knew as a man inspired.”
Book Third in Volume 11, is a biopic of Maxwell Philip, another descendant of the Philip family in Trinidad. He became “The Representative Man”, a political and legal luminary of Port of Spain in the mid-19th century. Set in the 1920s, the author lets a youthful C.L.R. James “discover” Maxwell in his interviews with Captain Arthur Andrew Cipriani and with Maxwell’s daughter, Ethel Broadway.
The books are available for purchase in local bookstores and online on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
About the Author:
Gérard A. Besson (Jerry) was born on 20th January 1942 in Belmont, Port of Spain, He grew up in the Catholic, Patois-speaking household of his grandmother and attended St. Thomas High School in Belmont. On the death of his grandmother he spent some years in England and on his return to Trinidad worked as a copywriter for various advertising agencies and in the fashion industry. In 1973, he founded his own agency, Creative Advertising.
Jerry’s writing career was sparked when he became a member of a circle of writers and historians around Olga Mavrogordato. This group, including Fr. Anthony de Verteuil and Michael Anthony, was dedicated to publishing works about the history and cultural traditions of Trinidad and Tobago. In 1981, Jerry founded the publishing company Paria Publishing, initially focussed on publishing works on the history of Trinidad and Tobago. He produced and published more than 130 books, including non-fiction books by Trinidadian historians.
In 1995, Jerry’s advertising agency, was acquired by Lonsdale Saatchi & Saatchi; Jerry himself remained as creative director. He retired from Lonsdale Saatchi & Saatchi in 2002 and continued to contribute to the cultural life in Trinidad and Tobago, writing books, building museums and contributing to academia and scholastic life with his historical and folklore expertise.
