The White Man In The Tree

Mark Kurlansky

Feb 2012 · Random House

About this ebook

The White man in the Tree is a comedy of cultural misunderstanding set in the Caribbean, New York and Paris, a novella and eight stories about people who, because of their differences - between men and women, blacks and whites, Jews and Christians, rich and poor - misjudge each other. Celebrated for his non-fiction, Mark Kurlansky is equally at home with fiction: he has an ability to unmask our foibles and write about love with great wit and humour.Whether it is a sophisticated European filmmaker, an ambitious young black Haitian woman, a promising politician obsessed with women's feet, or a fish-out-of-water rabbi in search of a kosher chicken in Curacao, each of Kurlansky's characters engages us with impulses and interactions that are by turns comic, insightful and poignant. The White Man in the Tree is an affectionate portrait of a unique society, where Europe, America, Africa and Asia meet Latin America. Filled with surprises and delight as Kurlansky approaches each scene from a new and unexpected angle, The White Man in the Tree is a tender, wholly original and thoroughly entertaining fiction debut.

About the author

Mark Kurlansky is the author of A Continent of Islands: Searching for the Caribbean Destiny, A Chosen Few: The Resurrection of European Jewry, Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, winner of the 1999 Glenfiddich Food and Drinks Award for the Best Food Book, and The Basque History of the World. During the past twenty years he has spent a great deal of time in the Caribbean, including seven years as the Chicago Tribune's Caribbean correspondent. He lives in New York City.