Title: The Polished Hoe
Author: Austin Clarke
Rating: 
3.5 stars out of 5
Publisher: Amistad
Copyright: 2003
ISBN: 0060557621
Pages: 462
Keywords: fiction
Reading period: 6-10 September, 2007
Mary-Mathilda has been the mistress of Bellfeels,
a plantation owner in Bimshire (a lightly fictionalized Barbados),
since her early teens.
One night, she calls the police to confess a crime.
Sargeant, who has silently loved her since they were children,
takes her Statement over the course of a very long, discursive night.
A night in which many ugly secrets bubble to the surface.
Secrets about Mary-Mathilda's past,
secrets about the English elite who ruled pre-War Bimshire,
secrets about the plantation:
secrets that Sargeant doesn't really want to hear.
An odd, meandering novel that moves slowly,
but nonetheless held my attention.