Prospero's Daughter: A Novel

Elizabeth Schmidt

The very title of Elizabeth Nunez's gripping and richly imagined sixth novel, Prospero's Daughter, distances her work from both the original "Tempest" (in which the daughter, Miranda, is perhaps the least developed of all Shakespearean heroines) and from the many postcolonial reactions to the play that have focused on the clash between the duke, Prospero, and his slave, Caliban, over ownership of the island. By contrast, Nunez's novel, set in the early 1960's on Chacachacare, a tiny island and former leper colony off the northwest coast of Trinidad, takes off from the most disconcerting moment in Shakespeare's play — Caliban's enraged response to Prospero's accusation that he attempted to rape his daughter. Nunez, who is a master at pacing and plotting, explores the motivations behind Caliban's outburst, hatching an entirely new story that is inspired by Shakespeare, but not beholden to him.
— The New York Times

Publishers Weekly

Nunez (Bruised Hibiscus; Grace) critiques colonialist assumptions about race and class in this ambitious reworking of The Tempest, set in her native Trinidad in the early 1960s. Dr. Peter Gardner (the Prospero figure) arrives on the island with his baby daughter after a botched medical experiment in England made him an outlaw. The novel's Caliban is Carlos, a mixed-race orphan whose house on an outlying island the doctor steals. Gardner teaches the boy biology, astronomy, music-"an exclusively European education," Carlos later reflects-but his natural brilliance far surpasses anything the doctor can impart. Inevitably, Carlos and Gardner's daughter, Virginia (Miranda), fall in love; the doctor, in a paroxysm of rage at the thought of a sexual union between his daughter and a dark-skinned man, accuses Carlos of attempted rape. As the criminal charge is investigated, Nunez reveals Gardner to be the real criminal-not only toward Carlos, but also toward his native servant, Ariana (Ariel), and Virginia herself. With its strong themes and dramatic ironies, this story should speak for itself; Nunez, however, overexplains her material, forecasting plot developments and leaning, at times, toward didacticism. But while her portrait of demonic scientist Gardner remains superficial, readers will find her love story-which has a refreshingly happy ending-very sensitively told. (Feb.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Peter Gardner, an English medical doctor, is on the run from the law for poisoning his patients. He is a master of deception, hiding his crimes, his racism, and his madness with lies and innuendo. He and his three-year-old daughter, Virginia, appear on a tiny island near Trinidad the day after a tremendous storm. Five-year-old Carlos, an orphan, lives on the island in the care of his dead mother's housekeeper, who is dying of cancer. The housekeeper lets Peter move in, and he begins to manipulate the situation to his liking. Although Peter has other plans for his daughter, Virginia and Carlos grow up and eventually fall in love. In the end, Peter's madness overtakes him. The novel, narrated by Simon Vance, features well-drawn and sympathetic characters; the helplessness of the children is chilling. Recommended. Joanna M. Burkhardt, Coll. of Continuing Education Lib., Univ. of Rhode Island, Providence Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Exquisite retelling of The Tempest, set in a leper colony off the coast of Trinidad in 1961. Inspector Mumsford has been called to the island of Chacachacare to investigate a rape allegation lodged against mixed-race teenager Carlos. English scientist Peter Gardner has filed the complaint on behalf of Virginia, his 15-year-old daughter. Gardner, a scientist exiled from Britain due to his experimental work on cloning body parts, landed at Chacachacare 12 years earlier, on the heels of a violent storm. Once there, Gardner and his young daughter met the orphaned Carlos, who remained in his family's house along with the housekeeper, Lucinda, and her daughter, Ariana. Gardner used his cunning to take the house, treating the Trinidadians as servants. The five live there in almost complete isolation, as Gardner is afraid of contracting leprosy. He tutors Virginia in the history of the British empire, proclaiming English superiority and the imperfections of Caribbean flora and fauna. But conflict creeps into the enclave. Tempted by his daughter's budding figure, Gardner protects her "virgin knot" by making Ariana his sexual slave. Drawn together by their fear of her father, Virginia and Carlos become friends and later sweethearts. When the scientist attempts to marry his teenage daughter to a rich American, Virginia and Carlos finally decide to stand up to the despot. The tale unfolds through the eyes of Mumsford, Carlos and Virginia, who desperately tries to understand her father. Nunez's masterful story plays out against the backdrop of Trinidadian hopes for independence, achieved the following year. Simply wonderful.