The Comedians

Published in 1966, this novel is set in Haiti under Francois Duvalier's dictatorship. Brown, a rootless Englishman, returns to Port-au-Prince to run the decaying Hotel Trianon and to resume an affair with Martha, the German wife of a diplomat. On the boat he meets Smith, an American vegetarian politician who hopes to open a center on the island, and Jones, a talkative confidence man who claims military rank. The Tontons Macoutes, failed schemes, and a thin rebel movement close in on all three. The book is a political novel about people who perform roles rather than a documentary of the regime.

Bound in red cloth, cover blocked with a green and black design by Sara Ogilvie. Dark grey slipcase.