Our National Library issued a bulletin this week announcing the launch of a new book, ‘Caribbean Crossroads,’ by Charles Croes. The book was inspired by true life events.
While Charles insists he is not an author or writer, he likes telling stories and putting them down on paper and during the past two decades he nurtured a loyal local audience via FB posts and during performances at Poetry Night.
His narrative is always introspective and personal, and the words flow beautifully to form a stream of familiar thoughts, and universal questions.
Charles reports that this book was born in Venezuela, on a trip deep into the country where he met a young boy, a goat herder whose family also dipped into Artisania making rustic clay tiles which Charles was about to buy and use for the construction of his home in Aruba.
That ten-year-old whose world revolved around his goats, the pasture and his modest boondocks village, became the protagonist of a book he’s been writing for five years.
It is a journey of self-discovery as the boy moves from his early childhood dustbowl to the Caribbean experiencing life’s many challenges and heartbreaks.
The story. says Charles, is weaved together from many real-life threads, and logic and careful development of characters is no the book’s strongest suit.
But the mystical poetic Caribbean folklore is ever-present.
I found myself writing and writing, Charles explains, this character drew me in to explore many of his relationships until at a certain point I realized I had more then 30 characters in the story, none of which I wanted to give up.
So, I ended the first installment, just like that, mid-air, and went to work on the sequel.
I do not promise my readers logic, and order, but I promise them an escape into a magical fun world cluttered with life’s never-ending peaks and valleys.
Charles was born in Aruba, lived in the USA for many years, then came back to become a star timeshare salesman. With his career wrapped up, Charles found time to devote to his son and to literary pursuits.
His first book, published five years ago is still a steady seller in the book stores. Caribbean Crossroads, his second literary effort was published by LM publishers and Editorial Charuba.
Charles is grateful to a whole army of friends who helped read, comment, and finally publish, Sandra, Alice, Douglas, Sunanda, Elvis, and UNOCA.
