Title: Short Stories of the Yester Years
Author: Gigi Mera
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-1-9845-4319-0
Pages: 112
Genre: Fiction / Short Stories
Reviewed by: Carl Conrad

Read Book Review

Short Stories of the Yester Years is a book which will open your eyes with stories having taken place in the “yester years” involving slavery in French-controlled Hispaniola (Haiti) during colonial times (1776) and after. Author Gigi Mera has fictionalized stories of slavery, superstitions, legends, and racial identity to make a point and define the limits of historical interaction between cultures.

In seven short stories, Mera mixes many diverse tales. There is a story of babies who are secretly taken to other countries and moved around so their parentage is not known, then of coincidences which reunite them with their parents, while also telling of babies born with a third eye who save the inhabitants from tuberculosis in mythical cities.

There is magic of the black voodoo arts used to make the hair of a disliked woman fall out, and herbs and roots which are used for spiritual concoctions that balance the power of journeys and heritages. In one lively story, there is even an engagement party in a garden where a ruby ring enchants the bride who receives it.

This is a book in which the racial makeup of babies and siblings, whether mulatto or quadroon, becomes a determinant of the position and stature of their lives in cities such as Sierra Leone, Habitation Lucus, Little River, and Saint-Domingue. It is in this historically culturally-rich environment that the author makes us believe these stories, and people, actually existed. And when supernatural or unexplained events occur, we accept their outcomes of inevitability as readily as if they happened this way all the time. With a storytelling knack which will fascinate the reader, along with improbable adventures and unexpected outcomes, the author gallantly manipulates the circumstances of each story to entertain and enliven the histories of her characters. Yet, it is the different experiences in each story which makes them so enchantingly interesting.

Throughout the customs and traditions of these French and African people are woven marriages, political compulsions, and work in the fields or houses, even indentured servitude, while bounded by the dictates of slavery which underline certain special features of the characters. It is through the author’s singular insight and prowess that she is able to energize these stories with notable qualities, to hold the charm and irregularities of these historical tales while imbedding them with certain fantastical events to make them radiate with a realness that will make the reader suspect they may have in fact really happened. Short Stories of the Yester Years will linger in the minds of all readers who venture into the supernatural world created by this talented storyteller Gigi Mera.