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The White Woman on the Green Bicycle

3.42 of 5 stars 3.42 · rating details · 1,265 ratings · 276 reviews

An unforgettable love story, brimming with passion and politics, set over fifty years in Trinidad – a place at times enchanting, and at times highly dangerous . . .

When George and Sabine Harwood arrive in Trinidad from England as young newlyweds, they have with them just a couple of suitcases and Sabine's prized green bicycle. Their intention is to stay for not more then...more

Kindle Edition, 437 pages

Published (first published January 1st 2009)

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Apr 02, 2012 Elizabeth (Alaska) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library, rws-spring-2012, 5-star-reads

In the fabric of every marriage there are rents and tears. As the years accumulate, there will be quite a few of them. Sometimes the patches are clumsy and remain weak; sometimes there is no patch, just secrets kept hidden from one’s mate. Roffey begins her novel at the 50-year mark of the marriage of George and Sabine Harwood, then takes us back to tell us how they got there.

The story parallels in time the transition in Trinidad from British rule to self-governance. I knew nothing about this co...more

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May 12, 2011 Chrissie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: hf, caribbean, kindle, netgalley, text-checked, favorites

NO SPOILERS!!!

I finished this book last night, before I went to bed, but it is still night or early, early morning. 3:30 AM to be precise! I cannot sleep. I keep thinking abut this book and how I shhould explain why I adore it. It swallowed me, sucked on me, swished me around, pounded me and then spit me out. Or have you ever been tumbled and beaten by a crashing wave? When you escape, thrown up on shore, dizzy, without footing, tousled, pummelled; that is another way of describing how you feel...more

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Apr 30, 2012 Roy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Monique Roffey is a fine writer and her vivid descriptions of Trinidad make readers feel its tropical heat and lush ripeness. Trinidad is as much a character as the setting. In "The White Woman on the Green Bicycle" readers are transported to this island (not too far from my birth place of St. Thomas) and observe its shifting political climate over the course of turbulent decades. The struggle for independence from the authority of Europeans is backdrop to the story of a rocky marriage that is u...more Monique Roffey is a fine writer and her vivid descriptions of Trinidad make readers feel its tropical heat and lush ripeness. Trinidad is as much a character as the setting. In "The White Woman on the Green Bicycle" readers are transported to this island (not too far from my birth place of St. Thomas) and observe its shifting political climate over the course of turbulent decades. The struggle for independence from the authority of Europeans is backdrop to the story of a rocky marriage that is up front and center. In the first section the title character does a great deal of complaining and bemoaning her situation. I found it difficult to like or relate to this miserable woman. Even though her husband is no saint, at first he is the more tolerable of the two. Yes he's an alcoholic and a serial adulterer, one who in his older years does not bother to have mistresses but settles for prostitutes. But we also see decency in his dealings with people and root for his efforts to atone and win back his wife's affections. I don't want to divulge any spoilers so will simply say that after the dramatic conclusion of the first section, we are brought back in time to when the couple first arrives in Trinidad. They are much younger, more vibrant, seemingly deeply in love with each other, more open to giving things a chance. But while the husband is happy to be in Trinidad where he knows he can be far more successful than he would have been in England, his wife sees island life as a temporary necessity to experience, and then to endure. The cause of her unhappiness is the same from beginning to end, and she is honest about it all along. Her husband selfishly and dishonestly leads her to believe throughout the years that he has an exit strategy, that they will eventually be returning home. But in truth he feels that they already are home, and believes/hopes that his wife will come around in time. If she does not, so be it. Rum and women and professional achievement and growing wealth help him deal with the aggravation of having a wife who hates where she is yet won't/can't leave. Time marches on and revolution is in the air. If the Trinidadians achieve the freedom they long for, perhaps the woman on the green bicycle will get what she desires as well. But she is waiting for this outcome to happen, not making it occur by taking action. She does not attempt to change her circumstances but instead suffers them noisily, as well as quietly in letters she writes but does not send to a politician. The book draws to a close as the day of her personal emancipation seemingly draws near, but we know it must be a mirage because we have already learned that Trinidad will not let loose of its grip on her fate. Not everybody can enjoy a book that is about someone who holds a little less hope and a little more bitterness with each passing day. By the end, which is the book's beginning, she is relentlessly resigned to her fate. But that doesn't mean her bicycle doesn't have one last ride left in it. I'm happy to have read this sad book.(less)

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Aug 07, 2011 Adanma Raymond rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It frightens me that this novel could be nominated for an internationally recognized literary award. I have given it two stars only for its offering of a rare snapshot of Trinidadian daily life before 1990. This snapshot however is on a purely superficial level, with fantastic imagery but nearly juvenile insight. Not only does it present a completely false and warped idea of race relations on the island, but it does so in a very self-indulgent manner, as if to justify racism and colonial attitud...more It frightens me that this novel could be nominated for an internationally recognized literary award. I have given it two stars only for its offering of a rare snapshot of Trinidadian daily life before 1990. This snapshot however is on a purely superficial level, with fantastic imagery but nearly juvenile insight. Not only does it present a completely false and warped idea of race relations on the island, but it does so in a very self-indulgent manner, as if to justify racism and colonial attitudes on the island. Only some of the main character Sabine's flaws are intentional, the rest signify prejudiced attitudes and ideas that to this date have not been resolved by post-emancipation white settlers or their descendants. Roffey's understanding of the problems that lurk within the social fabric of Trinidad is amateur at best, and certainly no basis upon which she should have attempted such a complex novel. In failing to detail the true roots and implications of these social issues, she has written a novel which condescends to the majority of the population of one of the Caribbean's richest islands. I found myself continuously frustrated with her false explanations for people's behavior and her misguided understanding of problems that most high school students might better explain. Furthermore, she made several exaggerations in order to fit her purpose (ex. the blimp's presence in Port of Spain) which could be reasonably considered artistic license had she not then made it such a central motif of what was supposed to be a candid study of the island. The way she depicted the Trinidadian accent was relatively accurate in certain cases, but then ruined by being used by every kind of Trinidadian, from the Harwood's housekeeper to their white upper middle class children to Prime Minister Manning. This was simply another example of how clueless Roffey seems to be about Trinidad.
I don't mean this review to be insulting to the author, as one can tell she has put a great deal of effort into the structure and actual writing of this book. I simply feel that perhaps her skills as a writer might be better put to use in a novel about a place she understands better. This novel makes her seem as ignorant as her main character, and the two should be very separate if we are meant to empathize at all with the ever-complaining Sabine.
To be fair to readers unfamiliar with Trinidad, this might have been a wonderful book about another place, where Roffey's insight held any truth or value. But as a Trinidadian citizen, especially one of African descent, I found it offensive and void of any serious literary value as a piece of accurate historical fiction.(less)

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Jan 09, 2013 Tami rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This novel is in two parts. It could've ended after the first part and would have been a complete - and fascinating! - story of an expat British couple, George and Sabine, who are individually having very different experiences in Trinidad. If the novel had ended there, after the first part, I probably would've rated it around a 4, maybe a 5. It's a very lush book, with a wonderfully vivid glimpse into Trinidadian scenery and life.

Since I've instead given this novel a 2, obviously the story start...more

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Aug 05, 2011 Iuliana rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club

Book club choice for this month - I am never sure about books with reversed timelines and I cannot see why the author chose to tell the story in this manner. It did not anything positive to the book .

I enjoyed the first half of the book, the history of Trinidad is quite interesting and it is full of beautiful descriptive passages. But the second half left me perplexed, there was enough information in the first half about the characters' early lives and i would have prefered to keep reading about...more

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Jan 17, 2013 Marli rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thought this book was pretty well written and relayed a lot of interesting historical events which I enjoyed. That being said, I found the overall story to be extremely depressing and unpleasant. I told myself several times I was going to stop reading it, but did end up finishing it. I would not recommend this book to anyone who is disturbed by infidelity, racism, or complete lack luster for life, because those are all major themes of the book.

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Nov 22, 2012 Shonna Froebel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a wonderful book that follows the lives of a British man, George, and his wife, Sabine. They came to Trinidad in 1956, where he would work, as many did, in a shipping company as a clerk, on a three-year contract.
The book begins in 2006, when Sabine has resigned herself to living in Trinidad for the rest of her life. Her daughter, Pascale, has married locally, and her son Sebastian works in England. George does freelance writing for the local paper. When George discovers one of her long k...more

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Jul 06, 2012 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Three stars for literary quality and representation of the culture (some problems here). One star just because I lived in Trinidad and miss it so dearly...and reading this while baking in the summer sun let me indulge in a bit of escapism by layering my own experience over some of the problems of the book.

There are things about this book that I loved and things I hated. The feelings are not unlike how ex-pats can feel about the nation in which they find themselves lodged for whatever reason. I a...more Three stars for literary quality and representation of the culture (some problems here). One star just because I lived in Trinidad and miss it so dearly...and reading this while baking in the summer sun let me indulge in a bit of escapism by layering my own experience over some of the problems of the book.

There are things about this book that I loved and things I hated. The feelings are not unlike how ex-pats can feel about the nation in which they find themselves lodged for whatever reason. I am an American and former ex-pat who lived in Trinidad so I could very much appreciate the complex feelings the main character had for Trinidad. Though she states her hatred of the place (and though I have stated my love over the years) there is actually a far more layered set of opinions that co-exist in protagonist Sabine Harwood's mind and heart, and my own. Though I definitely don't share the same set of views Sabine holds I do appreciate that the author could give voice to frustrations as well as enchantments. I believe Ms. Roffey does that very effectively.

I also quite like that the island itself was cast as a character in a manner. The author very capably establishes the colorful, pulsating, lush setting. I appreciated that the time span encompassed a time of great change. She also describes nicely that there is great cultural and socioeconimic diversity on the island. One thing that bothered me a bit though was the glaring absence of the quite significant East Indian population. There were a couple of cursory mentions of the Indian indentured servants who replaced emancipated slaves, a few meals of curry, and the term was given for people of mixed African/Indian descendance (dougla). For a book that seemed to intend to provide a representative microcosm of the society, while telling the Harwood's story, further development of that presence in the novel was a perplexing omission.

There also seemed to be a set-up as to why the Harwood's daughter married a high class French Creole which was never explained. Sabine's husband, George, seems somewhat underdeveloped as a character as well. Is it because he is an underdeveloped man? Perhaps.

As for the themes about race relations on the island, I certainly cannot comment as a local but from my perspective there did not seem to be the level of tension in Trinidad (when I lived there in the 90s) as is described in the book. It spans 1956-2006, though Roffey really only covers the 60s and early 70s before skipping right to 2006.

Overall I enjoyed this because I have missed Trinidad and Roffey brings back the sights, the heat, the colors, the lilt of the dialect and she weaves in favorite landmarks and some amusing cameos of real people but there are some significant problems in the novel.(less)

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Jun 29, 2012 Kkraemer rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Every afternoon, around four, the iguana fell out of the coconut tree."

Interesting first line, eh? and it introduces almost everything about this book: the exotic setting (both geographical and physical), the predictability, the patterns...

On the surface, this is the story of Sabine and George, who fall in love, marry, move to Trinidad in 1956, and stay for at least 50 years. Sabine hates Trinidad. George loves it...and that is the crux of the story. Add to that, however, the fact that Trinida...more

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Jun 06, 2012 Rose rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I expected this to be an interesting story, but I could only make it through the first 100 pages. I had a really hard time figuring out how I was supposed to perceive the characters, as sometimes the novel presents them in a sympathetic light, but then returns to condemning them, describing them cruelly. Additionally, It is hard for me to understand why George would be upset about Sabine's letters when he has, and still does, physically cheat on her. I didn't make it far enough in the story to f...more

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Apr 17, 2012 Sharon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The White Woman on the Green Bicycle is a back-to-front book. The first part is chronologically the last, and even before the story really begins we know the tragic end; but foreknowledge is exactly the prod that keeps the reader reading. How, why, did it all go so terribly wrong?
When George and Sabine Harwood, flushed with the glow of a new marriage, arrive in Port of Spain, Trinidad in the mid-1950’s, an Other Woman steps into their life and casts a spell on George. Sabine is powerless against...more The White Woman on the Green Bicycle is a back-to-front book. The first part is chronologically the last, and even before the story really begins we know the tragic end; but foreknowledge is exactly the prod that keeps the reader reading. How, why, did it all go so terribly wrong?
When George and Sabine Harwood, flushed with the glow of a new marriage, arrive in Port of Spain, Trinidad in the mid-1950’s, an Other Woman steps into their life and casts a spell on George. Sabine is powerless against her, for she is not of flesh and blood, but of fertile earth and tangled foliage, of crashing sea and moody sky. The undulating green mountains around their home symbolise, for Sabine, the seductive island Trinidad: her voluptuous curves, the abundant foliage of her hair, her vibrant Creole voice. The green woman Trinidad steals not only her husband but her children and her life.
Sabine hates her rival Trinidad and pines for England. But her love for George is fierce as a hurricane, and she endures the daily vexations for his sake, trusting that their stay is only temporary. She tries to adapt, and riding her green bicycle around the capital’s streets becomes a familiar figure to the locals. Finding herself in an animated crowd listening to Eric Williams, the charismatic political leader, she falls as much under his spell as the restless Trinidadians, and recognises him as not only the island’s saviour but, perhaps, her own.
As George drifts ever more into the arms of the green woman Sabine begins a secret life of her own, driven by her fascination with Williams. Williams proves to have feet of clay and Trinidad erupts into racial violence; the green woman shows her claws. The Harwoods themselves become targets, and George finally agrees to flee.
Decades later, Sabine’s box of secrets surfaces and George makes a last desperate attempt to save his marriage. But the green woman proves as wily and as powerful as ever…
Subtly weaving truth into fiction, Trinidadian-born Monique Roffey has created a captivating roman-a-clef in which Trinidadians will recognise several real-life characters, both as themselves and in disguise. In eloquent, sometimes poetic, always passionate prose, she paints an intriguing and sometimes disturbing picture of Trinidad in the turbulent post-colonial era. Forget the cliché of white Caribbean sands, turquoise sea and cloudless blue skies; Roffey leads unerringly into the dark areas, slavery’s shadow. When racism begets racism it’s time for the hard questions, and this riveting story of a marriage as it crash-lands asks them fearlessly… but subtly, for Trinidad will seduce the reader as much as she does George.

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Mar 26, 2012 Dexter rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read White Woman on the Green Bicycle and completely enjoyed it. I am from Trinidad and Tobago and thought the author did a masterful job capturing the beauty of our language, the richness of our culture, the complexity and disappointment of our politics. I am happy for modern fictional literature on Trinidad. Far too long it has been monopolized by V.S. Naipaul and his ilk freezing the land, people, and culture in a post-colonial time warp. I appreciate the raw honesty of Monique Roffey's wri...more

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Jan 14, 2012 Ardene rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, fiction, immigration, trinidad

The white woman on the green bicycle by Monique Roffey was an intriguing read set in Trinidad. Wish my head wasn't so stufffed up so I could think more clearly about the structure and voice of this novel.

Sabine is the white woman on the green bicycle, and it's her voice that comes through most clearly. She and her husband George come to Trinidad in 1957 from England (George is British, Sabine is French).

The novel covers the handover of Trinidad from a British protectorate to an independent state...more

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Aug 13, 2011 Kathleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-uk-etc-thing, authors-new-to-me, pearl-recommendations

The violence in the opening pages, reflective of all the cumulative layers of what had gone wrong or stayed wrong in Trinidad, almost kept me from continuing. By page 7, I was riveted, sweating in the relentless heat described and uneasy about the blimp hanging over the Port of Spain.

I cared deeply about the characters in this book. In 1956, a young married couple arrives in Trinidad for a three year contract in an English company not at all prepared for the life that awaits them. The loneliness...more The violence in the opening pages, reflective of all the cumulative layers of what had gone wrong or stayed wrong in Trinidad, almost kept me from continuing. By page 7, I was riveted, sweating in the relentless heat described and uneasy about the blimp hanging over the Port of Spain.

I cared deeply about the characters in this book. In 1956, a young married couple arrives in Trinidad for a three year contract in an English company not at all prepared for the life that awaits them. The loneliness and isolation of the young wife, her growing recognition that she and her husband are unwelcome, are hated at the same time he falls deeply in love with the lush land and remains optimistic about change are described vividly. How they carve out a life in a country reeling from the effects of colonialism and mired in racism is the underlying story, told using a back to front plot, beginning in 2006, returning to 1956, going forward to 1963 and then ending in 1970. Minor characters are equally as compelling; there is an integrity about the characters and the choices they make about their lives that must be respected if not understood. Listening to their stories over a 50 year span allows the reader to witness great shifts and setbacks in their personal lives as well as the political life of Trinidad. The history of the PNM (People’s National Movement), the legacy of Dr. Eric Williams and the Black Power Movement are as much a part of the novel as the relationship between Sabine and George. “Things could have been so different” says Sabine to George in 2006. As much as she is referring to their own relationship, she is speaking of Williams’ promises of change and the bitter disappointment of his inability to make life better for the poor. Letters she wrote but never sent to Williams reveal Sabine’s growing disillusionment with her life and her intuitive understanding of all that is wrong with the political leaders in Trinidad. The author describes her voice as “cheeky” especially when commenting on the politics of Trinidad. I think, however, her style counters the vagueness in the speech of the English characters that was criticized by one of the maids to Sabine: “Trinidadians had the tendency to be explicitly honest about everything.” In the end I think that is what I loved most about the book, the raw honesty expressed by every character.
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Dec 02, 2010 Jane rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: borrowed

I didn’t come across The White Woman on the Green Bicycle until it appeared on the longlist for the Orange Prize for Fiction.

I wasn’t sure that it would be my sort of book, but I heard so much praise that I really had to order a copy.

Since then it appeared on the shortlist, and now that I have read it I have to say that I would be thrilled to see it win. A wonderful book!

It tells the story of one woman, her life and marriage, and wraps around it the story of Trinidad in the second half of the tw...more

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Jul 24, 2010 LitAddictedBrit rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2010

I originally bought this on a binge induced by the release of the Orange Prize for Fiction (UK) shortlist 2010 as the books were *ahem* on offer but I was really taken by the idea of a story exploring the background of Trinidad - a country I would admit I know little about.

What I will give this book credit for is it's incredible descriptions of either a wildly compelling Trinidad or a hot and oppressive Trinidad. The scenery was beautiful and by far my favourite aspect of the book. The local cha...more

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May 17, 2010 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

This book was an excellent distraction on my seven hour flight home from the UK today. Roffey beautifully delivers Trinidad - first in its modern day state and then in its various revolutionary phases over several decades of political turmoil. In the middle of it all are Sabine and George Harwood. George takes a position in an international company and falls in love with the island. His wife Sabine agrees to the initial three year commitment but finds herself trapped by the island's hold on her...more

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Apr 27, 2010 Adele Ward rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Monique Roffey: A White Woman, A Green Bicycle, and the Orange Prize

It came as no surprise to me to hear Monique Roffey had been shortlisted for the Orange Prize for her novel The White Woman on the Green Bicycle. As soon as I received it for review I knew I was in for a treat and I wasn’t disappointed. Roffey is surely one of the best women novelists around and this tale of Trinidad is as irresistible as her earlier work.

Her first novel, Sun Dog, tempted me to buy it after reading an excerpt. I...more

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Mar 09, 2012 Pamela rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Having finished this book, and then having looked at some of the reviews, I am still going to give this book 4 stars. I don't much about Trinidad, so this book was pretty interesting for me. Roffey painted such vivid pictures with her poetic descriptions. She really gave you an lovely image of this island and it's people. Since reading other reader's reviews, I've come to the conclusion that she maybe is not spot on about politics or race relations in Trinidad, but it gives you a glimpse at leas...more

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Apr 14, 2011 Heather Pearson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I felt so comfortable reading this book. The words flowed on the page into my head and it just seemed right. I've never been to Trinidad, though I did live on the island of St. Vincent a few hundred miles to the north. While very different countries, some of the lifestyle and politics appeared familiar.

In 1956 newly weds George and Sabine Harwood emigrate to Trinidad after George receives a promotion. He immediately falls in love with the island while Sabine can't wait to return to England. As...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Elli rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: trinidad-west-indies, cultural-setting, family-relationships, intergenerational, political, poverty

Actually between 2.5 and 3, possibly even more and less. There is alot of upheaval in this story well beyond a fifty year span starting at the end of colonial system going into a self government. It is a story mainly through the eyes of a couple who come as practically youngsters newly married and end up staying all their lives. Looking for new leadership and new more democratic ideals was part of it for the local population, alot of them not really realizing that one "Massa" can be just as easi...more Actually between 2.5 and 3, possibly even more and less. There is alot of upheaval in this story well beyond a fifty year span starting at the end of colonial system going into a self government. It is a story mainly through the eyes of a couple who come as practically youngsters newly married and end up staying all their lives. Looking for new leadership and new more democratic ideals was part of it for the local population, alot of them not really realizing that one "Massa" can be just as easily replaced by another irreglardless of demographics, institutional or personal, skin color, etc. And it did.. complete with violence and even more economic problems. Finally a few in the story began to realize that what was wanted by many were the benefits of what had been the prevailing colonial system but without its poverty and injustices plus respect for the greater percentage of the people and what they'd like to see happen, and pure and simple, the material possessions of "the good life." Need one say? It didn't happen. I relate to the woman who started in one place in her life and through her experiences which were not chosen as such, totally grew into something else in her thinking and understanding. I also relate also to a person who expected a short term life in another place, but expected to return afterwards to a place more consistent with what she knew and valued...then found that this fit her husband's dreams for himself even if they were just that and nothing else. And they wouldn't be knocked out from under him. Well, they were anyway when reality very forcibly set in, but not until much, much later towards the end of the story. I also relate to a person who felt forced for one reason or another to live in a situation she really hated, and the helplessness that was expressed. The book was so well written and the three dimensionality of the characters was so very deep that there was no problem with this. Ms. Roffey is a very talented writer!(less)

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Jun 25, 2011 Ellen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Monique Roffey's The White Woman on the Green Bicycle is a book that doesn't seem to know what to do with itself; it has ideas, but it declares this so openly that no part of the novel is allowed to naturally take root in the reader's mind. Roffey's novel, about a couple from England, Sabine and George, living in Trinidad, opens with the pair in their seventies, entrenched in what seems a decades-long loathing of one another, an obsession with their physical decline, and an endless rehashing of...more Monique Roffey's The White Woman on the Green Bicycle is a book that doesn't seem to know what to do with itself; it has ideas, but it declares this so openly that no part of the novel is allowed to naturally take root in the reader's mind. Roffey's novel, about a couple from England, Sabine and George, living in Trinidad, opens with the pair in their seventies, entrenched in what seems a decades-long loathing of one another, an obsession with their physical decline, and an endless rehashing of memories and perceived slights. This section of the story, told in the third person, takes up nearly half of the novel.

Roffey's decision to open the novel with this overlong segment is baffling. Sabine and George are revealed to the reader, but they're never really shown to us; or rather, they never show us who they are. Sabine is at the center of the first section, as she is at the center of the novel as a whole, but she is never developed well enough that she can carry this weight. Rather, Roffey attempts to make Sabine a compelling character through a sort of trickery, by telling us that other characters find something to look at in her. There's her and George's focus on her physical decline, "its runaway curves and generous swells", as a means of establishing that Sabine and the island are in competition for her husband's affections - the "island [that] flexed its charms, laughed in her face as she withered." There's the way that everyone around her, her daughter, her servants, her husband, recall Sabine and how she rode her green bicycle around Trinidad when they were newly arrived, when she thought she would be in the country for three years rather than for the rest of her life. There's the way they all, of them, tie Sabine and the green bicycle and Eric Williams, the first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, together in the manner that Roffey evidently wants the reader to.

The way characters in The White Woman on the Green Bicycle remember reads as false, because their memories are so tightly focused on what Roffey wants the reader to focus on: who Sabine was, who she became. Nothing in this novel is allowed to be insignificant, and in limiting the aspects of her characters we see, Roffey gives only the sense that these characters are only partially drawn, that they only exist so far as they can serve Roffey's vision of a novel about the end of the colonial era in Trinidad.

The second half of the novel, divided into three sections focusing on the years following Sabine and George's arrival in Trinidad, are stronger than the first section - but not so strong that they can recover the novel. The way Sabine becomes tangled up in Trinidad, first thinking she and George will stay just for their three-year contract, then a little longer, then realizing that she has no way of supporting herself should she leave Trinidad without George, reads claustrophobically. Knowing, as we do, that Sabine will still be in Trinidad in her seventies, it is sometimes painful to read her desire to return to England; but Roffey is heavy-handed even here, as she foreshadows for Sabine the future we readers already know.

The White Woman on the Green Bicycle at times does a remarkable job capturing the feel of Trinidad, Sabine's sense of being out of place in a foreign culture that is in the process of rejecting people with her skin color, and the language of Trinidad. It fails, though, in developing characters that can match the landscape surrounding them. (less)

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Nov 29, 2011 Elaine rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

Oh dear, seccond book in a row that I rapidly flipped pages hoping to get to the end. Where to start? The main character is fundamentally unlikeable -- her political (and it seems?) sexual obssession with Trinidad's first prime minister is almost inpenetrably contradictory -- she wants a better life for Trinidad's black population who she knows only as servants and violent "others" or worse b/c she hates the island and hates not wanting to be wanted by it? (Plus as an aside all the nostalgia for...more

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Oct 20, 2010 Beth Bonini rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Most memorable book from my summer reading.

A young expat wife arrives in Trinidad in the early 1960s, just as the British are withdrawing. She finds that she is sympathetic to the political/social aims of Eric Williams and the newly formed national party (ie,non-white Trinis) . . . just as her English husband is falling in love with the other rich assets of island life (rum, beautiful women, cheap property).

The novel is about a long marriage -- but also, and in a related way, about the hopes and...more

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Dec 09, 2011 Bea rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I think I would give this a 3 1/2 because I never did understand the relationship between the wife, Sabine and her husband, George. Why did she stay? What drew them to each other? Maybe someone else can read this and get those answers.
The book begins in Trinidad, where an English couple has been living for 50 years, raised two children, bought land and built a house. She has always hated it there, he has always loved it. The book is filled with racial tension. Sabine has written tons of letters...more

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Aug 06, 2011 J.L. Campbell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

George and Sabine Harwood arrive in Trinidad from England in 1956. Sabine expects they will depart in three years as planned. Instead, they never leave because George falls in love with the island. In the interim, she writes letters to Dr. Eric Williams, who becomes Prime Minister. None of the letters are ever sent and George gets jealous when he finds them decades later. His desire to rekindle her love and respect has him taking foolish, but brave action that yields little results.

I liked the r...more

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Apr 07, 2012 Kirsty Darbyshire rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library-book

The only thing I could really mark this down from five stars for was that I found it hard to get going with in the beginning, I picked it up several times to read the first few pages and put it down again. Once I read more than the first 20 pages I was hooked.

I really like the "backwards in time" way of telling a story. The first half of the book is the third-person viewpoint story of Sabine and George Harwood, a white seventy-something couple living in Trinidad in 2006. The book then goes back...more

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Aug 03, 2011 Trish rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: british, fiction, islands, literature, something-completely-new, totally-unexpected

The excitement of discovering this book was one I have not felt for years. It is all the things great literature should be: it shows as well as teaches; it is recognizable but fresh; it is on some level profound; it is memorable. The book is written in dialect, and it was a revelation to me to see phrases I’d only ever heard actually written down. It added much to the general impression of the first section of the book as a stage play. And a wonderful, rich, funny, tragic stage play it would be....more The excitement of discovering this book was one I have not felt for years. It is all the things great literature should be: it shows as well as teaches; it is recognizable but fresh; it is on some level profound; it is memorable. The book is written in dialect, and it was a revelation to me to see phrases I’d only ever heard actually written down. It added much to the general impression of the first section of the book as a stage play. And a wonderful, rich, funny, tragic stage play it would be.

The cover copy of White Woman… says it is a love story, and so it is. But this is the story of a love affair with a country, and with a people, as well as love between two married people. Just as one recognizes the ups-and-downs in a marriage, the love affair with the country follows the same pattern—lavish love, and lashing pain. Sabine, the main character, describes her early love of George, her husband, in the following way:

Our courtship was very swift. We won each other, you could say. We were each other’s prize. People liked us, we were one of those couples; other people enjoyed having us around. Parties were gayer when we were there. Others basked in our happiness, envied our devotion. We brought out the potential in each other. George, in those days, gave me the experience of being at my best, moments, hours, days, a long period of complete happiness.”

“We brought out the potential in each other.” That’s the way I describe love—a state where one is something different, something better, when the other person is there. The story takes place in Trinidad over a period of fifty years. Sabine and George come as representatives of a British shipping company, and find a way to live and love through the rise and fall of politicians promising more for locals, less for foreigners. In an interview, Roffey tells us she did a lot of research before she began to write. The tight narration of the political scene in Trinidad during the 1960’s and 1970’s does much to enhance our interest in the concomitant lives of Sabine and George. One comes away feeling one has witnessed history--and that we share that history. The book has connected us to the Trinidad, a “landscape parading it’s fertility, a banquet of eccentric delicacies.”

Monique Roffey is not really a newcomer: this is her second novel, which became a nominee for The Orange Prize, one of the United Kingdom's most prestigious literary prizes, annually awarded to a female author of any nationality for the best original full-length novel written in English, and published in the UK the previous year. Roffey’s first novel, Sun Dog, was published in 2002 by Scribner. Sun Dog employed magic-realism, and was warmly received by critics. My guess is that it may show us the early promise of this accomplished novelist.
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Dec 18, 2010 Nitya Mathew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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About Monique Roffey

Monique Roffey was educated in the UK. Her highly acclaimed debut novel, Sun Dog, was published in 2002. Since then she has worked as a Centre Director for the Arvon Foundation and has held the post of Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Sussex and Chichester universities. In 2010, her second novel, The White Woman on the Green Bicycle was shortlisted for the Orange Prize.

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