Before the Rain Jan Lowe Shinebourne and the exclamation mark

and the exclamation mark

How much can we say

and North Parade has crescents of Georgian splendour

was born in Oxford in 1962

In these stories of Indian life in Trinidad in the 1940s and 50s

Before the Rain Jan Lowe Shinebourne and the exclamation markIn bringing together poems and short stories in one collection, Christine Craig looks both inward at herself as the reflector and celebrant of the experiences of a long life, and outward as the observer and creator of the dramas of other lives. Her world encompasses hazard, cruelty, and the abuse of power but it is seen with a hopeful eye that pays homage to the resourcefulness of Jamaican aunties, finds joy in the promiscuity of a garden nurtured by