Bruised Hibiscus by Elizabeth Nunez

Ballantine Books, 2000
Review by Mary Senior Harwood

Hidden Truths

The brutal murder of a white woman whose body washes up on the beach in the small village of Otahiti in Trinidad – the result of “man-woman business” say the men — sets this book in motion. Zuela, the Venzuelan wife of a Chinese grocer, meets Rosa, the daughter of a plantation owner, at the shrine to the Virgin in Laventille and acknowledge their shared past as childhood friends. Rosa’s fear is that this murder will be played out again in her own home by her black husband and Zuela finds herself drawn to the shrine to fight thoughts of retribution to her harsh husband who took her from her family and married her as a mere girl.
As playmates, the two girls witnessed the rape of a girl behind a hibiscus bush. Rosa is haunted by the rapist’s repeated mantra, Beg. I know you want it. Beg. When she hears her own husband uttering the same phrase, she fears for her own life. The image of the bruised hibiscus, whose brilliant flowers fade to the same purplish blue as a bruise, recurs throughout the book.

The cast of characters reflects the multi-hued Caribbean society. Rosa is the daughter of a plantation owner, but unknown to all (because of her pale skin and hair) except her mother and nanny, her father was a black man. Cedric, Rosa’s husband, is the son of a black woman and an Indian laborer whose father was sexually abused by Rosa’s father and who committed suicide when rejected by the plantation owner. Cedric’s marriage to Rosa is in part retribution. Zuela represents the population that migrated from South America and her husband, Ho Sang, the Chinese influx, many of whom became merchants like her husband.
Nunez uses the universal theme of violence toward women to echo the violence and injustice of the colonial era. Several events during the years Trinidad worked toward independence from the British Commonwealth frame her story and intensify the dual message of the immediate violence done to the two virtually enslaved women and the history of a country raped and enslaved by colonial masters. When the people revolt, they lash out at any symbol of that power – including Rosa, who they perceive as white.

It is also a book about secrets – the secret of Rosa’s father’s homosexuality, her mother’s affair, Rosa’s heritage. About the crimes that haunt Ho Sang and drive him to opium to forget. About secret passions of love and hatred.