Antonio (J. Anthony) Gomes, Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at the
Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University
and Broadway Book Centre, Goa's largest bookshop
together with Goa,1556, the alternative publishers from Goa, India,
cordially invite you to
the launch of Dr Gomes' first novel
THE STING OF PEPPERCORNS
at Clube Vasco da Gama, Panjim, Goa India
on January 30, 2010 (Saturday)
at 5 pm
The book launch will be preceeded by a book discussion on Goan Writing
In English: How Vibrant, How Relevant.
Participants: Victor Rangel-Ribeiro, eminent author (including of
Tivolem); Maria Aurora-Couto (author of Goa, A Daughter's Story);
Damodar Mauzo (prominent Konkani author and short-story writer);
Margaret Mascarenhas (author of Skin); Norma Alvares (advisor to the
Other India Bookstore and Press, Goa); Vidyadhar Gadgil (journalist,
translator and assistant editor).
The author, Dr Gomes, will be present for the event.
[Two other books will also be released at the function, Modern Goan
Literature (Peter Nazareth, University of Iowa, Ed.) and Mirror to Goa
(Donna Young of Arizona.]
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Antonio (J. Anthony) Gomes is a Professor of Medicine
(Cardiology) at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York
University and Director of the Cardiology Consultative Services and
Senior Consultant in Cardiac Electrophysiology at the Zena and Michael
A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute, The Mount Sinai Medical Center in
New York.
He is the author of several poems published in anthologies, books, and
magazines; a book of poetry entitled Visions from Grymes Hill (Turn of
River Press, Stanford, Connecticut, USA, 1994); and a text book of
cardiology, Signal Averaged Electrocardiography: Basic Concepts, Methods
and Application (Kluwer Academic Press, London/Amsterdam, 1993). He
lives in Manhattan and Staten Island in New York.
ABOUT THE NOVEL:
The year is 1961, the month of May: In Portuguese Goa, in the village of
Loutolim, on the west coast of India. Dona Isabella prepares for the
unexpected return of her eldest and favorite son Paulo, who is studying
law in Coimbra, Portugal. On the very day of his return to Goa, Paulo
barely escapes execution by a group of masked guerrillas seeking the
overthrow of the colonial Portuguese regime.
Paulo's life, and that of his rich and traditional Brahmin family, takes
a tragic turn with the military takeover of Goa by India after 451 years
of Portuguese rule. The integration of Goa into India disentangles the
socio-economic foundation of the Albuquerque family. Paulo's sister
falls in love with a man of lower caste. Dona Isabella laments the loss
of her culture and the unraveling of her children's lives.
Haunted by nightmares, and daydreaming of his return to Portugal, Paulo
takes to drinking, drugs, and sex orgies on the Baga beach with the hippies.
This story unfolds like a canvas, suffused with a profound sensibility,
and a sense foreboding. In *The Sting of Peppercorns* Gomes takes on
history, love, death, the conflicts of assimilation, and the cultural
mores of a people -- the people of his native Goa.
SOURCE: Frederick Noronha, Goa,1556
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