In The Village of One, journalist Richard Charan merges history, investigative journalism, and the art of storytelling in recrafting unusual news stories originally written and published in The Trinidad Express newspaper, into a fascinating book that will surprise and delight readers. At first glance, the stories may appear random and directionless but read collectively and deeply, the reader soon comes to realise the writer’s achievement in giving the faceless and forgotten a voice, as he explores the human condition as Trinbagonians come to confront who they are and what they have lost.

Unlike a traditional history text, the stories that make up The Village of One are not chronological accounts of important dates, famous people, memorable events, or distant places, but as Sunity Maharaj highlights in her Foreword, ‘the ordinary and overlooked are magical apertures leading from Trinidad and Tobago’s present into its fascinating past … where history is familiar, alive and within easy reach.’ 

Some of the stories will be familiar to readers of The Trinidad Express when they originally appeared as ‘news’ but Charan has, in Maharaj’s words, stretched the boundaries of news to transform them into non-fiction essays in which he offers readers a completely different thrill in the random encounters of a series of unforgettable people in forgotten places. 

Charan invites you to just read for the story, for the storytelling, and for the language. And if Richard did his job well enough, you may discover what Trinbagonians lost.