Only God Can Make a Tree

by Bertram Roach

Adrian is the son of a black Caribbean woman and an Irish immigrant father, and is blessed with the pale skin and European features to allow him social mobility in the rigidly hierarchical society of twentieth-century Caribbean life. He falls in love, but is offered the opportunity to improve his social standing, and thus the rest of his life, if he can suppress his heart's desire and decide with his head. Will he choose Julia, the only woman he has ever really loved, and settle for being an overseer, or will he opt for the plantation-owner's daughter, Alice Mills, who could provide him with the social standing he has always dreamed of? The consequences of his eventual decision are weighty and far-reaching, affecting not only Adrian, but all those around him, showing the harsh realities of life in this earthly paradise. Set on the idyllic islands of St Kitts and Nevis, this gripping saga is the true story of a family of mixed race and mixed fortunes.

Genres: Historical Fiction, The World, Fiction, International, Contemporary

136 pages, Paperback

First published April 4, 2008

Reviews

[Sportyrod · Rating 2 out of 5]

Atmospheric setting, cycles of life, motivations for marriage.

The Saint Kitts and Nevis setting was excellent. Although most of it was on farmland or a sugarcane estate, there were glimpses of the harbour and city life. This alone was enough to finish the book.

The story was largely relationship-based. Whether to marry the one you love, or the one who improves your station in life. Grown up children not liking their parents but not outdoing them either. Except maybe one. Male characters were ambitious. Female characters were about settling down, and when that failed, finding love through other means. Lots of rum drinkers. So not much in the way of a good plot. Nor were the characters likeable. The stakes didn’t climb as high as they could have, so it was a mellow read. This book would be ok for those liking failed romance stories on a Caribbean setting.

[Schwarzer_Elch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Siguiendo con el desafío #ReadingTheWorld, que propone leer un libro por cada país del mundo, llegué a este título oriundo de San Cristóbal y Nieves. No es fácil encontrar autores sancristobaleños y, menos aún, historias que sucedan en la sociedad de este país insular ubicado en el Caribe, así que “Only God Can Make a Tree” me pareció una buena idea.

Lamentablemente, la historia como tal no es interesante en lo absoluto. Por ahí tiene algunos detalles que podrían resultar llamativos, pero son mínimos y no tienen continuidad en el relato. Además, siento que el autor es superficial en todo momento, no llega a profundizar en los personajes, en las situaciones ni en ninguno de los elementos de su narrativa. En menos de 150 páginas, nos cuenta la historia de vida de un padre y de su hijo, pero muchos momentos clave suceden muy rápido y muchos de los secundarios que podrían trascender pasan sin pena y sin gloria (y ni hablar de los protagonistas…).

Sí resalto el hecho de tener una idea más clara de la idiosincrasia de la sociedad sancristobaleña en relación a los negros y a la esclavitud. Es un tema recurrente en la historia que, al igual que todos los demás ítems, tampoco tiene mayor desarrollo, pero que, a través de la repetición, le queda bastante claro al lector o lectora. Por otro lado, considerando que este es el segundo libro caribeño que leo (el primero fue Un pequeño lugar de la antiguana Jamaica Kincaid), me queda mucho más clara los fuertes vínculos sociales y económicos que existen entre las naciones de las Antillas.

Como un texto informativo para ampliar conocimientos sobre San Cristóbal y Nieves, el libro funciona, pero como texto literario deja bastante que desear. Una lástima.

[Rosamund · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very simply written book. Its appeal is that it is a window on life in St Kitts and Nevis in the early twentieth century by a Nevisian author.

[Dawn Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read Around the World: St. Kitts and Nevis

[ElenaSquareEyes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only God Can Make a Tree is a short book at less than 150 pages, and it is a quick read both because of its length and because of the writing style. It’s written very simply and is very much a book where it tells you what’s happening and what characters are feeling rather than showing you through metaphors or flowery language. This makes it seem like it’s not a very well-written book as you can’t easily connect with the characters and the plot is just laid out in front of you. It took a while to get used to how it was written, but its blunt, on the nose approach to this story did make it easy to read and sometimes engaging.

For such a short book it covers a lot of time and different characters lives. Adrian is the main character but as the choices he makes have knock on effects onto the people around him, you get snippets from other characters points of view as they struggle to deal with the fallout of his actions. The latter half of the book spans more time as Adrian fathers’ children and they grow up and have to live with Adrian being their father and what that can mean for them.

Adrian is a character that’s equal parts infuriating and sympathetic. While his actions are his own, and they are often reckless and hurt women who do love him, he is boxed in by the hierarchical society and has limited options if he desires to climb the social ladder. Adrian has high aspirations in a society that won’t really allow him to have those aspirations. He is a man that’s almost trapped between two societies because of his parentage, he can pass for white a lot of the time, but at the same time many white people will never see him as anything but black and will treat him accordingly. There’s also how Adrian appears to be destined to make similar mistakes to his own father, and all the rum that’s available is not good for any of the characters.

The sections about life in Saint Kitts and Nevis in the twentieth century were interesting. White, often English, people still owned the cotton and sugar cane plantations but now they pay people to work the land, albeit very cheaply. The former slaves are now labourers. As not a lot of time has passed since the abolition of slavery, there’s still some tension as the white plantation owners believe that the black people are still savages deep down. Often the glimpses of Caribbean society and how it works were more interesting than Adrian’s life. Though that being said, how Caribbean society works had a direct effect on Adrian and how is life panned out so the intersection between the two was also interesting.

I read Only God Can Make a Tree in less than two hours but I’m not sure how long this story will stick with me. It’s a concise family saga that gives a unique insight into post-slavery Caribbean and how one man’s aspirations can have long-lasting and unexpected effects. 2/5.

[Dulcinea Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mundafora em 198 livros #23: São Cristóvão e Névis

Sombras do paraíso: dinheiro, amor e o peso do passado em São Cristóvão e Neves

Em Only God Can Make a Tree, de Bertram Roach, acompanhamos a trajetória de Adrian, um homem dividido entre o amor e a ambição, entre a vida simples de sua ilha e a promessa de ascensão financeira. A história começa com força, uma juventude vibrante e sonhadora, um trio de personagens: Adrian e seu dilema entre o amor de Julia, a jovem professora e negra, e as conexões de Alice, a filha branca do patrão que é apaixonada por ele. Há algo de profundamente simbólico no que Roach faz: ele transforma a história de Adrian num espelho da própria São Cristóvão e Neves — sorteado da semana no desafio Mundafora —, un país pequeno,dividido entre o peso de seu passado colonial e o desejo de construir um futuro independente.

São Cristóvão e Neves, ou Saint Kitts and Nevis, como é conhecida em inglês, é o menor país do continente americano, um conjunto de duas ilhas caribenhas que, vistas no mapa, parecem dois grãos de terra cercados por um azul imenso. Foi ali que começou a colonização britânica no Caribe: em 1623, os ingleses se instalaram em São Cristóvão, expulsando e dizimando os povos indígenas caribes e trazendo milhares de africanos escravizados para o cultivo da cana-de-açúcar. A economia da ilha, como em tantos outros territórios caribenhos, ergueu-se sobre a violência da plantação, sobre o açúcar e o sangue. Mesmo depois da abolição da escravidão, as estruturas coloniais se mantiveram por meio da desigualdade e da dependência econômica — que fica bem claro no livro. O país só alcançou sua independência em 1983, o que significa que as marcas do domínio britânico ainda são recentes, não apenas na política, mas na língua, na religião, nos costumes e, principalmente, na literatura.

Nesse contexto, o livro de Bertram Roach ganha uma dimensão simbólica: a luta de Adrian não é apenas pessoal, é também histórica. Adrian vive a tensão entre dois mundos: o da pureza e das raízes (representado pelo amor de Julia, pela terra e pelas relações humanas) e o da ambição e do dinheiro (pelo amor não correspondido por ele através de Alice que promete liberdade, mas cobra caro em solidão e perda). A árvore do título, evocando o verso “Only God can make a tree”, do poeta americano Joyce Kilmer, é mais do que um símbolo religioso: ela é a metáfora da criação e do destino, algo que o homem tenta dominar, mas que pertence a forças maiores.

Roach escreve em uma linguagem marcada pela musicalidade caribenha, com diálogos vivos e um senso de oralidade que dá ritmo às cenas. Na primeira parte do livro, esse estilo se sobressai: há calor, cor, humor, e o leitor sente que está dentro da comunidade, compartilhando os gestos e os silêncios de um povo acostumado a resistir. O trio inicial, Adrian, Julia e Alice, concentra a força emocional da narrativa, trazendo um retrato autêntico do cotidiano de uma ilha onde todos se conhecem e onde as escolhas individuais repercutem no coletivo. É um início promissor, que fala sobre juventude, lealdade e desejo, sobre o ponto em que a vida ainda é uma promessa.

Mas, à medida que a trama avança, o ritmo se perde um pouco. O conflito de Adrian, entre o amor e o dinheiro, acelera de forma abrupta, e o que poderia ser uma jornada de autoconhecimento se transforma numa sequência rápida de eventos. O leitor, que havia se conectado ao início luminoso da história, sente uma distância crescente dos personagens que vão entrando e saindo da trama. Ainda assim, essa aceleração pode ser lida também como um reflexo da própria modernidade que o livro critica: o tempo apressado das novas economias, o abandono das raízes em nome do progresso.

No país, a literatura ainda é um território em formação, com poucos nomes reconhecidos internacionalmente, e Bertram Roach é uma das vozes que tenta traduzir, por meio da ficção, o dilema de pertencer a um lugar que sempre foi narrado pelos outros.

Em Only God Can Make a Tree, há uma tentativa clara de devolver voz à ilha. O ambiente natural, o ritmo das conversas, as relações comunitárias e a presença constante da religião formam o pano de fundo de uma sociedade que vive entre a fé e a necessidade. A própria estrutura da narrativa com variações de tom e foco, parece dialogar com a história das ilhas: a inocência colonial, a ruptura com a ordem antiga, e a busca incerta por um novo caminho.

Ao mesmo tempo, há algo de universal na trajetória de Adrian. Seu dilema entre amor e dinheiro ecoa o dilema de muitos povos colonizados que, ao alcançar a independência, precisam escolher entre seguir seus próprios valores ou se render às forças econômicas globais. O amor, nesse sentido, representa o vínculo com a terra, a comunidade, a memória; o dinheiro, o desejo de ascensão e a sedução do poder. A tragédia de Adrian é a tragédia das pequenas nações, a perda de si mesmas na tentativa de serem vistas pelo mundo.

A árvore, símbolo central, retorna como uma imagem de enraizamento e transcendência. Em uma das passagens mais belas do livro, Clifford, filho de Adrian, reflete que o homem pode plantar, regar, podar, mas não pode criar a vida que pulsa em cada folha. Só Deus pode fazer uma árvore. É uma frase que carrega o peso da humildade diante da criação, mas também a impotência de quem percebe os limites de sua própria ação. A metáfora se amplia: talvez São Cristóvão e Neves esteja tentando fazer crescer sua própria árvore, sua identidade, em um solo ainda marcado pelas raízes coloniais.

Há, no estilo de Roach, um desejo de capturar a fala cotidiana, o ritmo da ilha e sua espiritualidade. Isso o aproxima de outros autores caribenhos que buscaram romper com o inglês formal e dar à literatura a voz do povo. No entanto, a segunda metade do livro parece perder parte dessa organicidade. O narrador se distancia, as descrições se tornam mais econômicas, e os personagens deixam de se aprofundar. A força emocional inicial, que prometia uma história de amor e perda com densidade poética, se dilui com o desenvolvimento diferente do imaginado, com o filho de Clifford. As personagens femininas perdem também densidade, existindo apenas para bagunçar o destino de Adrian.

Ainda assim, há valor no conjunto. O livro nos oferece um retrato raro de São Cristóvão e Neves, um país de pouco mais de 50 mil habitantes, que raramente aparece na literatura mundial. Ler Only God Can Make a Tree é, portanto, mais do que acompanhar o destino de Adrian e Clifford: é abrir uma janela para um lugar onde as montanhas descem até o mar, onde o passado escravocrata ainda ecoa nas canções, e onde cada pessoa carrega dentro de si um pedaço da história atlântica.

Bertram Roach nos lembra que as pequenas ilhas também produzem grandes dilemas, e que as escolhas de um homem, amar, enriquecer, partir, voltar, podem conter a complexidade de uma nação inteira. Mesmo que o livro não alcance toda a profundidade que sugere no início, ele cumpre um papel essencial: o de revelar São Cristóvão e Neves não como um ponto esquecido no mapa, mas como um território vivo, cheio de memórias e contradições.

Only God Can Make a Tree de Bertram Roach. Twickenham: Athena Press, 2008. 149p. Leitura de Outubro 2025.

[Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although parts of this slim volume were wonderful, the writing was choppy and the story-telling was predictable. I loved the glimpse into life on the islands of St Kitts and Nevis at the end of the 19th Century and beginning of the 20th Century. I loved the descriptions of the places, and the lengthy passages on the workings of the sugar cane farms. In some of these moments I felt the book was one that would eventually warrant 4 stars. However, the first half had all of the fun moments and then it felt like the author was forcing it. It felt like he decided that certain people had to fall so karma would get them for their previous failings, and that others had to die so that it would manipulate the characters left behind, and so he put it on the paper with very little thought as to how it read. The first half of the book took place over a fairly short period of time and it allowed us to hear the conversations that the characters had with one another. It was in this half of the book that I learned about how a sugar was harvested, and it was both fascinating and entertaining. Then the second half of the book came and huge leaps in time were made which left me feeling as though I missed all the good parts of the story and the author was just giving me the facts. I felt nothing for any of the characters. Some of them died and I didn't care! I wish that the author had made this a short story instead.

[Jennifer Pletcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is mostly the story of Adrian - the son of a black mother from the Caribbean and a white, Irish father. Though he works on the land as a highered hand, he longs for better social status. He falls in love with a girl named Julia. He feels that she is the love of his life, but she will not improve his social standing. The other woman in his life is Alice - the daughter of his boss. She is beautiful, and wealthy, and in love with Adrian. But Adrian knows it would ruin him to be with her - he would never work again. So they keep their relationship a secret.



Adrian's decisions with these two women, and their families, change the course of all of their lives forever. The harsh realities of Adrian's background get in the way of him living the life he desires.



This book wasn't great. It was not well written, and so it didn't hold my attention. I found myself skimming certain paragraphs because it read more like a manual than a story. It also jumped all over the place - too many small side stories that didn't really need to be introduced in such a short book. Too many tangents.

[Sue Kozlowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as part of my quest to read a book written by an author from each of the 196 countries of the world. The author of this book was born and raised on the island of Nevis.

I believe this is the only book written by Roach. Though many readers have given it a low rating, I feel it is an informative and enjoyable book. Many of the characters are not developed and too many coincidences occur for them to be believable. The author does help the reader to understand the atmosphere of race relations on the islands.

The book mirrors Roach's life very closely. Roach's father was a manager at the Lavington Estates in St. Kitts. Roach went to school on the island and lived with the laborers and others in the small villages. In the book, a young man of mixed race becomes a manager of a large cane plantation. His light skin grants him some of the privileges of white men, but his high ambition of becoming a rich plantation owner is doubtful.

Bertram shows that although slavery has been outlawed, the same oppressed men and women work as laborers for minimal payment. Blacks have not increased their standing in the communities.

[David Burns · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The whites are the masters, the blacks are the slaves and even now, many year after emancipation, they are still slaves with a different name: labourers. Everyone in any position of real authority if white: all the plantation owners, the judges, magistrates, police inspectors, ministers. The white plantation owners own almost all the land."

From Bertram Roach's novel "Only God Can Make a Tree", set on Lavington Sugar Cane Estate on Saint Kitts Island.

Note: I was taking the ferry from Basseterre (St. Kitts) to Charlestwon (Nevis) on July 6, 2023, and a couple sitting across from me in the waiting room noticed that I was reading this book and commented on it. The woman told me that the author - Bertram Roach - was still alive and was 100 years ago and living quietly on Nevis island.

Only God Can Make a Tree ** Read in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Charlestown, Nevis - West Indies, Caribbean (July 2023)

[Álvaro Salandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a lovely story about men in a culture that is fast-paced and troubled.

This is a 3.8 for me. It does the trick. .....

I'm again appalled by people's inability to read a sinopsis or an author's blurbed autobiography. "..full of coincidences..." 🤣🤣 The prologue says that the author mixed stories and people's lives to make a somewhat cohesive novel. The biography suggests the author was late in his 80's ... Give it a rest.

[Virginie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading the world in books: Saint Kitts and Nevis.
Not very well written. Easy reading.

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts slowly, but I was pulled along and became quite engaged in the story. It was full of old time twists and turns, coincidence, etc, but so is life! A window into Caribbean life.

[Neuza]

Reading The World #110: St Kitts and Nevis

[Yvonne · Rating 3 out of 5]

~ Set in Saint Kitts and Nevis.

[Emily]

Saint Kitts and Nevis

[Rhonda Hankins]

What fun it was to get to read a novel written by a native of Saint Kitts and Nevis! It's a short book of 134 pages focused on the story of one man's life. The reader gets introduced to post-slavery plantation life and some of the local customs.

[Alisia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was difficult to find a novel that takes place in St Kitts and Nevis, tags is also written by a Nevisian. This short book fit the bill for an authentic look at plantation life post-slavery, and not from a British perspective, in the early 20th century up through WWII. The perfect novel to read while spending time on Pinney's Beach, Nevis.

[Nicole Kroger Joy · Rating 2 out of 5]

#readtheworld Saint Kitts & Nevis