About the Book... An exotic journey into Jamaica's past and present. Evelyn Nathan's vision of a personal Eden lost and regained is found in this stunning blend of poetry and black & white photography. Train to Skaville: A book of poetry and photography $15.00 Buy the book: Amazon Barnes & Noble Revolution Booksellers You can contact Evelyn by emailing: evynathan AT comcast DOT net. About Evelyn... I'm a native of Groveland, Massachusetts. I had a storybook 50's childhood in a quaint, brown-shingled house on top of a hill between two dairy farms. My father taught art history at Bradford College and Mom was an artist and homemaker. Both instilled in me an appreciation of literature and the arts. Tragically, we lost Daddy to cancer in 1961. I had a spotty scholastic record at the local high school, preferring to hang out with 'folkies' from nearby Haverhill, play my Martin and sing jug band music. After graduation from Pentucket I defected from small town New England, and at Pratt Institute in New York had a spotty scholastic record until I discovered photography and found my niche. I received a BFA from Pratt in '69 and married my college sweetheart, an architect already living and working in Kingston, Jamaica. From the first airborne view I was in love with the island. Nothing I'd ever experienced could have compared with or prepared me for the passionate and exotic life I'd live there for the next four years. To perfect this delightful period of my life, I found a job teaching photography at Jamaica School of Art, in the early 70's a small, 2 year college tucked away in the steamy heart of Kingston. Mentoring the local kids was an honor and a privilege. Their talent and artistry, considering available materials, was awesome. We lived at the crest of a dayglow green ridge overlooking Kingston, a multicultural city in its most vibrant, post colonial phase, and in the nascent years of reggae. Train to Skaville is my wistful attempt at time travel. Our work permits eventually ran out and we had to leave, relocating in San Diego, where we hoped to recreate paradise. That didn't happen, and in 1980 a house fire reduced what was left of the Jamaican wonder years (and everything else) to a pile of rubble from which I excavated a handful of singed but precious photographs. The better examples of these survivors are represented on this website. Within the book are several great period shots by Jamaican ex-patriot, friend and former student, Robin Lai. I returned to Jamaica in May of 2006 to launch Train to Skaville at the Edna Manley School of the Visual and Performing Arts, the modern incarnation of the school where I once taught, and to attend Calabash, the annual Caribbean Literary Festival at Treasure Beach. See the photos to the bottom right! Bringing the book 'home' was a delightful and rewarding experience. Please click here for a recent review on www.jamaicans.com and here for a review (in PDF format) from the Reggae Festival Guide. Speaking of robins, I've returned like the perennial bird to New England where we moved to be near my aging mother. After living with us here in Kingston, NH, for the last several years, Mom passed away earlier this year—at nearly 97! I continue to work my day job as a surgical nurse and get up at 4 AM every morning to work on the final draft of a historical novel of the US/ Mexican war of 1846. My dream involves a bungalow in the Florida Keys. There I should like to snorkel among the mangroves daily, play my Martin whenever the mood strikes, and write by the light of day. To bring this fantasy to fruition I'll have to sell lots of books, which is a thinly veiled hint.