Life is a talent show, for everyone must find the ability to successfully navigate life, especially its challenges, losses, and pains. This concept is a prevalent theme in a wonderful work of Caribbean literary fiction, the debut novel by Barbados-based Denise Haynes, Talent Show.

Do you really know your parents? We all think we do but never consider them as persons before parenthood descended. And do they know you?

In Talent Show an introverted father becomes talkative and lifts the curtain on who his wife was before she was a mother, who she became after, and who each of his children were in his eyes. He reveals a few secrets of his own and describes life in a household of 10 children as a perpetual talent show. Everyone is always anxious to perform, to shine and to receive applause, even if they don’t know what their talent is.

A man’s personal revelations and observations about a wife whom he loved and a family whose metamorphoses were an education for him are at the center from which the group’s “talent show” – within the family and in larger contexts – spins.

Life is a rehearsal for the family talent shows, or is it the other way around? The children get their bit in as they reply with their own versions and reveal who they are. One thing is clear- there is no shared version of a family’s life. Everyone has their own and pain is often hidden in the busyness of family life until family members speak honestly.

“This story is about a family that everyone can relate to,” says Haynes. “People tell me they can see themselves in it, allowing them to see their lives on paper. It centers around two people who fall in love and the reality of life difficulties in raising children. It shows the impact of parenthood on a relationship and the dynamics at play in a large family. The reader will be moved by the question: How do you view yourself - -and will your children see you that way?”

In an interview, Haynes is available to discuss:

- The challenges and rewards of growing up in a large family

- How parenthood impacts a relationship.

- The differences of how we see ourselves and how family members see us.

- What Caribbean life was like back in the 1940s and 50s under British Colonial rule and how it has changed today

- The “talent show” that plays out in every family member looking to survive and thrive.

- Do we ever really know and understand our parents?

- The human need to be seen

Haynes’ intriguing family saga may not be autobiographical, but there certainly are people and events in the book that are inspired from her life.

Told in flashbacks, the book takes us back to the 1940s and makes its way back to the present day. Her book is about a large family and Haynes knows something about that. She is the youngest of 10! Her book also shows slices of Trinidadian life during its final days under British colonial rule, of which she lived through.

Talent Show, inspired by Haynes’ interest in family as the foundation for who we all are, is about the human need to be seen and heard. This is developed by exposing readers to the internal life of a large family narrated initially by the father and then by the children and finally by past and present generations. It may even help people to understand themselves and their families, or at the very least become aware of the layers of life within a family.

Contact Denise