WINDWARD HEIGHTS
by Maryse Condé & translated by Richard Philcox
WINDWARD HEIGHTS ($24.00; Aug. 18; 364 pp.; 1-56947-161-4). Guadeloupian-born novelist CondÇ (The Last of the African Kings, 1997, etc.) rises above her usual accusatory lushness in this rich reimagining of Emily Brontâ’s Wuthering Heights: the lavish tale (recounted by several narrators) of “a mulatto girl as poor as a church mouse . . . madly in love with a black boy even poorer than herself.” For once, CondÇ’s tiresomely explicit condemnations of racial and ethnic prejudice and injustice are subordinated to a real story, dominated by vivid characters (her Heathcliff, the Byronic-demonic RayzÇ and his several hot-blooded sons are especially flamboyant romantic figures)and enriched by frequent illustrations of the “voodoo” religion of Santeria. A Third World “Duel in the Sun”: over the top, as always, but nevertheless one of its author’s most involving and satisfying novels.