The Hills of Hebron

$18.95

Written in the late 1950s on the cusp of Jamaica’s independence from Britain, The Hills of Hebron tells the story of a group of formerly enslaved Jamaicans as they attempt to create a new life and assert themselves against the colonial power.

By: Sylvia Wynter

Ian Randle Publishers Bools on Amazon Kindle

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Description

When Sister Rose, the beautiful young wife of Obadiah, the leader of the Church of New Believers, becomes pregnant, the hillside community of Hebron is thrown into a whirlwind of suspicion, disbelief and doubt. He had taken a vow of chastity, not to lay with Rose for one year and one month. Obadiah protests his innocence to the congregation but the revelation of the pregnancy is the climax of the continuing power struggle between Obadiah and the jealous and ambitious Miss Gatha, Rose’s adoptive mother. Unrelenting and scathing in her attacks on Obadiah, Miss Gatha seeks to secure the succession of her son, the clubfooted Isaac, to his rightful place as leader of the New Believers, a position held by his father, the Prophet Moses who had led the New Believers into exile to build their Utopian community, the promised land in Hebron. 

Written in the late 1950s on the cusp of Jamaica’s independence from Britain, The Hills of Hebron tells the story of a group of formerly enslaved Jamaicans as they attempt to create a new life and assert themselves against the colonial power.  Strongly anti-colonial, the novel depicts Hebron as a Revivalist community embracing Afro-Caribbean religious practices and gives voice to the social forces of that period in Jamaican and Caribbean history. Based on the early twentieth century Bedwardism  movement (a revivalist group led by Alexander Bedward), The Hills of Hebron was one of the first attempts to present the lives of black Jamaicans not as colonial subjects, but as independent human beings. 

Additional information

Weight 1 lbs
Dimensions 8 × 5 in
ISBN

978-976-637-257-6

Binding

Paperback

Page Count

368

Publication Date

2010

About the Author

Sylvia Wynter was born in Cuba of Jamaican parents and grew up in Jamaica. She studied in Britain and Spain and in 1962, returned to Jamaica and joined the faculty of the University of the West Indies. One of the founders of the Jamaica Journal, Wynter wrote major essays on Jamaican culture, history and literature, as well as several plays. In 1974 she joined the faculty of the University of California, San Diego and in 1977, Stanford University. She retired in 1944 and continues to reside in Northern California. The Hills of Hebron is her only novel.

Contents

Introduction    Anthony Bogues

Part One: Saturday

  1. The Vow
  2. The Curse
  3. The Drought
  4. The Search
  5. The Adulterer
  6. The Star-Apple Tree
  7. The Money-Box
  8. The Ball

Part Two: Friday

  1. The Kingdom of Heaven
  2. The Legend
  3. The Kingdom of Hebron
  4. The Rootless Years
  5. The Convert
  6. The Moonshine Doll
  7. The Seal

Part Three: The Night

  1. The Crucifixion
  2. The Betrayal
  3. The Sea
  4. The Rape

Part Four: The Morning

  1. The Return
  2. The Journey
  3. The rain

Afterword    Demetrius L. Eudell 

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