Set in the early nineteenth century The Counting House follows the lives of Rohini and Vidia, a young married couple struggling for survival in a small, caste-ridden Indian village who are seduced by the recruiter's talk of easy work and plentiful land if they sign up as indentured labourers to go to British Guiana. There, however, they discover a harsh fate as 'bound coolies' in a country barely emerging from the savage brutalities of slavery. Having abandoned their families and a country that seems increasingly like a paradise, they must come to terms with their problematic encounters with an Afro-Guyanese population hostile to immigrant labour, with rebels such as Kampta who has made an early abandonment of Indian village culture, and confront the truths of their uprooted condition.

"Excellent... Presented with poetic precision, this novel succeeds as both a compelling story and a beautifully sustained piece of writing."
Sean Coughlan, The Times.

"Beautifully written... Dabydeen's grace, as a poet turned novelist, is to give his characters' imaginations and inner lives voices in prose... This is a marvelous novel"
Michele Roberts, Independent on Sunday.

David Dabydeen was born in Guyana. He has published six acclaimed novels and three collections of poetry. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Professor of Literary Studies at the University of Warwick.

About the Author
David Dabydeen was born on a sugar estate in Berbice, Guyana in 1957. His family lived for a time in New Amsterdam where he attended school. He recalls moving back to his family village, Brighton, during the 1964 race riots. At the age of around ten he won a scholarship to Queen's College in Georgetown where he studied for a couple of years. He was sent to England at the age of twelve in 1969 and was in care until he was sixteen. He won a scholarship to Cambridge University and read English there and at London Universities, completing his doctorate in 1982. He was a post-doctoral fellow at Oxford University for three years. He is currently Professor at the Centre for Caribbean Studies, University of Warwick and was for some years a roving ambassador for Guyana.

Reviews
'Beautifully written...Dabydeen's grace is to give his characters imaginations and inner living voices...This is a marvellous novel.' Michelle Roberts.



Book Information
ISBN 9781845230159
Author David Dabydeen
Format Paperback
Page Count 179
Imprint Peepal Tree Press Ltd
Publisher Peepal Tree Press Ltd
Weight(grams) 195g