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by Shari Mitchell
Two hours. This was how long 13 readers sat in unison at the Scribbles and Quills Bookstore to discuss the lives of Betty, Solo and Mr. Chetan with feverish anticipation.
This setting was our 2nd Scribbles and Quills Book Club meeting, held on March 28th, and the book at the centre of the evening was Ingrid Persaud’s “Love After Love” – a novel as rich, layered, intricate and distinctly Trinidadian as the conversations it inspired.
We all sat closely together – face-to-face – with our tea cups and novels in hand, each person ready to participate fully in the discussion at hand.
It felt somewhat like sitting in a living room with old friends and new ones alike, ready to unpack a story that had somehow managed to crawl under everyone’s skin.
The room buzzed with nonstop conversation, but here, we tried to condense this evening for you.
“I Thought It Was a Romance…”
Once the initial introductions were complete, our host for the evening, Malka, opened the conversation with a simple question:
“What did you think about the book?”
And just like that, the floodgates opened.
For some attendees, “Love After Love” was not the novel they expected at all.
One reader admitted that when she first picked up the book, she expected a cozy romance. Instead, she found herself in tears toward the end, and not because her expected dreamy protagonist couple finally got to be together forever.
As she quickly discovered, this was not a romance novel – the intricate story embedded into “Love After Love” is about something much larger than that.
It showcased love in all its forms: love between a mother and her son. Love between friends. Love that survives grief. Love that is hidden. Love that is never spoken aloud. Love that remains, even after everything else falls apart. Love that leads to forgiveness and healing. Plus, much more.
The reader reflected that this novel reminded her that love transcends romantic relationships, and around the room, heads could not help but nod in agreement.
The Beauty of Multiple Perspectives
Similarly, one of the novel’s most surprising, yet appreciated features, was its structure.
Particularly, each chapter centred on an individual protagonist – Betty, Solo, Mr. Chetan…
The group found comfort in each character having his or her own chapter. As such there was no sharing of the spotlight. Every persona had a voice…a touching story that could be told without the need to fight for attention.
Like flies on the wall, we were given exclusive access into the individual life experiences that deeply impacted the decision-making and actions of our lead characters, allowing every protagonist to feel distinct, familiar and fully developed.
Married to this feature, another welcomed highlight were the short chapters, which made the novel palatable. This read was easy to digest and move through, despite the themes themselves feeling emotionally charged.
The crisp, changing perspectives undoubtedly kept the story moving, while still allowing the reader to understand each person’s pain, contradictions and motivations.
For our readers, there was true beauty in this creative flow.
A Book Club Love Story
One of the special stories shared during the evening’s discussion on love, also came from one of our guests. He confessed that he read the novel aloud to his partner, a fellow book club member, and together, they turned the novel into their own “homemade” audiobook.
What began as reading separately became quality time – a shared ritual – a story experienced together as a couple.
If that’s not love, we don’t know what is!
The Protagonist on Everyone’s Lips
As the night progressed, the discussion moved naturally into the evening’s second question:
“Did any characters stand out to you?”
The collective answer was yes.
However, there was one name that was returned to again and again – Mr. Chetan.
Gentle, lonely, loving, Mr. Chetan.
To many in the room, he was the heart of the novel.
Several readers highlighted the pain of reading about a man so full of love yet denied the ability to love like everyone else.
As we shared our thoughts, one reader found the novel’s depiction of Mr. Chetan’s story to be severe, for a supposedly modern society.
Under the theme of homophobia, she wondered, how could there still be such repression in a world shaped by Netflix, social media, and the changing times?
But this open question was responded to gently by another attendee who simply said, “homophobia is still here and is still very real”.
Mr. Chetan, who mirrors many in today’s world, could not build the kind of relationship others take for granted, although he desperately wanted to. Instead, forced into secrecy, his relationships are fleeting, hidden, and often transactional.
Several attendees recounted that, romance, for Mr. Chetan, was rarely written through the lens of tenderness or intimacy as well. Stolen glances. Coded looks. Hidden encounters. Brief moments. Dark corners. Desire reduced to secrecy.
It was clear that society gave him no room for anything more, thereby forcing Mr. Chetan to learn to settle for fragments of true love since he could never enjoy the full extent of it.
Sure, he was loved deeply by others – characters such as Betty, Solo, and Mani all cherished him, yet he rarely seemed to feel worthy of that love himself.
The one who deserved love the most was the one who felt most devoid of it, and by the end of the evening, one thought united everyone in the room – Mr. Chetan deserved more.
Solo: Difficult, Angry, and Painfully Real
Now, if Mr. Chetan was the character loved tenderly by most, Solo may have been the one most wrestled with.
Another emotionally-riveting character, Solo divided the room, as there was no shortage of opinions about him.
Some found him deeply frustrating, whilst others found him heartbreakingly human.
One reader laughed to herself as she described how frustrated she became with Solo, the novel’s troubled son.
She found his anger exhausting, his tantrums unrealistic, and his stubbornness infuriating. But even as she critiqued this persona, she could not help but recognize him as well.
Solo’s deep-seated anger still felt every bit human, familiar and understandable; a mirror held to reflect the trauma and outcomes of children who exist in households riddled with domestic violence.
Another reader admitted, what fascinated him most was just how stubborn Solo’s character remained. He kept reading to capture Solo’s breaking point; waiting for something – anything – to make Solo reconcile with his mother and repair their broken relationship. However, despite his own hardships, loneliness and suffering, Solo held onto his pain.
Several attendees highlighted the realistic nature of Solo’s rage, directed toward the parent who remained rather than the one who left. That is often how it happens in real life – the parent who remains can often become the target for tantrums, spite and coldness, as one member highlighted.
Solo’s increasingly sadistic and self-destructive mannerisms as he grew older, were also fearlessly brought to the forefront as discussions continued.
One attendee noted that violence and pain had become familiar to him. Familiar enough that he almost began to find comfort in them. He began to reflect the very violence he had grown up around, and tapped into the darker, more painful parts of himself – almost as a form of self-inflicted punishment, which one member termed, his “shadow self”.
Betty: Grief, Survival and the Search for Self
Then there was Betty.
One of the novel’s strongest and most intricate characters, Betty was another stand-out protagonist for our members.
One reader noted that through Betty’s story, the novel contained important lessons for women and children, especially surrounding the topics of domestic violence and generational trauma.
Yet another spoke passionately about Betty, admiring the way she stood up to her abuser and tried to create a better life for her child, than the one she had known herself.
But as a character who suffered through traumatic loss, Betty was not perfect.
Continually battling between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, one reader highlighted that Betty overcompensated, made mistakes, and looked for love in all the wrong places, especially if those places seemed to offer the illusion of comfort and safety.
Naturally, she struggled between what she wanted and what she believed was moral, thereby making it strikingly clear that loneliness can make anyone cling to people, places or things they would otherwise reject.
But this struggle only leaves her alone with her grief, insecurity and separation.
It was in that turmoil that she sought solace in Kali Puja.
The Kali Puja Conversation
Now, if you’ve never heard of this term before, Kali Puja is a major, ritual-filled, Hindu festival dedicated to the compassionate Mother, Goddess Kali. This is not just a religious experience but a cultural spectacle that breeds a deep sense of community and devotion among worshippers who honour Goddess Kali as the destroyer of evil, the ferocious protector who dispels fear and negative influences, and the Mother whose wrath and love are limitless.
With this in mind, it has to be acknowledged that nearing the end of our meeting, one of the most thought-provoking, fascinating discussions of the night centered around this religious Hindu practice, especially since it was unknown to most in the room.
When this topic was raised, readers admitted that they had never seen Kali Puja acknowledged and represented in Caribbean Literature before.
As one member highlighted, usually it is spoken about in whispers, labelled as “obeah” or black magic. Dangerous. Taboo. Misunderstood. Stigmatized. Dark. Shameful.
But one reader challenged that understanding.
She explained that based on its meaning, Kali can be understood as a mother’s vengeful wrath, seeking justice in good over evil, for her children; and it was with this insight that suddenly, the symbolism became clear, and Betty’s connection to Kali Puja made sense to the group.
She was not turning toward darkness or black magic.
In fact, she was turning toward strength and power. Toward healing. Toward liberation. Toward justice. Toward the version of herself that had spent years surviving and was finally ready to be free.
Truly, Betty’s journey was the emotional core of the book; as a woman trying to reclaim her identity and sense of belonging after years of loss, including the loss of herself.
A Truly Trinidadian Novel
As the discussion continued, readers also pointed out the many real-life issues woven throughout the novel. Themes surrounding addiction, domestic violence, motherhood, homophobia, childhood trauma, spirituality, belonging and more were ripe within these pages.
The novel, everyone agreed, did not shy away from difficult topics.
However, somehow, to soften the thematic heaviness of each story, the representation of Trinidadian culture was praised as the touch of spice that seasoned the book.
One reader marvelled at how vivid the novel’s sense of place was, in its thorough, authentic descriptions of the local foods, the people, the streets, the landmarks, the smells and the dialect.
The flavourful descriptions of the local street food, curried dishes and home-cooked meals, plus everyday Trinidadian life, were incomparable and so detailed they practically made the room hungry when discussed.
Every line of dialogue, cultural reference and local detail felt accurate and well thought out.
But, We Still Wanted More
Despite the genius of this novel, however, our members still wanted to know more.
That mystery case remained frustratingly open, but perhaps the absence of answers was part of the point.
It reflects real life accurately, doesn’t it?
More often than not:
Why Spaces Like This Matter
As the evening drew to a close, Malka invited everyone to share in one final question:
“What are your final thoughts?”
One reader smiled and admitted that this book club meant more to her than she expected.
Her friends, she said, do not share the same enthusiasm as she does when it comes to discussing books, so having a space to talk about literature openly, where members can disagree, debate, think together and become more enlightened – all without judgement or criticism – mattered.
Another member shared that the novel had been so impactful, he had already convinced two other persons to start reading it.
Whilst another praised the book for being willing to explore subjects many other Caribbean novelists tend to avoid.
And on that note, our seated circle of friends, who had traveled together through grief, anger, loss, love, loneliness, forgiveness, and healing, all embedded within this novel, said their goodbyes and slowly drifted out of the bookstore.
Looking Ahead
The feeling left in the room was one of contentment. Contentment in the conversations entertained, and contentment in knowing that you’ve found a community that doesn’t just want to understand why stories matter, but wants to understand you as well.
Perhaps that is what book club is really about – finding somewhere new to belong.
That night, our circle became a space for connection, honesty, and the kind of conversations that remind you how deeply stories can mirror life itself.
Next, we turn our gaze to Ibis by Justin Haynes – a novel that promises to stir new reflections around identity, belonging, and the ways we find ourselves in others. If Love After Love taught us about healing, Ibis may teach us about discovering a place to call home.
Find us huddled together on Friday April 24th, 2026 at 5pm, for our third meeting.
Maybe you’ll pull up a chair and join.
by Radeyah H. Ali There’s something really special about seeing children exhale after months of preparation, studying, pressure, and anticipation.
Written by Shari Mitchell There is no better way to begin one’s weekend, than with a Scribbles and Quills event!
