"The first professional novelist to come out of the English-speaking Caribbean"

A good place to start my reviews this year. . .

Taken From The Encyclopedia of World Biography:

Edgar Mittelholzer occupies a special place in the literary history of the English-speaking Caribbean. Although H. G. de Lisser is generally regarded as the first major novelist to emerge from the region, his achievement is divided between fiction, journalism, and public affairs.

On the other hand, in a career lasting some three decades, Mittelholzer wrote virtually nothing but fiction and earned his living by it. He is thus the first professional novelist to come out of the English-speaking Caribbean.

Some of Mittelholzer's novels include characters and situations from a variety of places within the Caribbean. They range in time from the earliest period of European settlement to the present day and deal with a cross section of ethnic groups and social classes, not to mention subjects of historical, political,  psychological, and moral interest. In addition, eight of Mittelholzer's novels are non-Caribbean in subject and setting. For all these reasons he deserves the title of "father" of the novel in the English-speaking Caribbean. Full Mittelholzer biography here. 

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Interesting Book Notes

--I'm about halfway through Mittelholzer's Shadows Move Among Them (334 pages total).  When I'm through, I'll tell you what I think about it. 

Meanwhile...

--The novel was published in London   (1951) at the height of his critical acclaim.

--In 1951, Time Magazine described Shadows Move Among Them as follows: Two other foreign novels, hard to classify, showed skill with out-of-the-way locales. Edgar Mittelholzer's Shadows Move Among Them dealt with a highly unconventional missionary in British Guiana. From Haiti came The Pencil of God, by Pierre Marcelin and Philippe Thoby-Marcelin, a fascinating study of the power of voodoo.

--In his review of the novel, Guyanese writer and Literary critic, Wyck Williams suggests, "Guyanese readers might find it particularly enjoyable on the level of comic fantasy."

--Shadows Move Among Them is not currently in print (the lamentable condition of many books by Guyanese writers), but you can purchase a used copy here from Amazon sellers from as low as $4.83.

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Related question:  Was there a lack of "West-Indian-ness" in Mittelholzer's Shadows Move Among Them?