Fiction, it is said, is not always about what’s being made up, and books often bind what still may not be hidden. Jamaican-born author in South Florida, Davonie Green, who briefly but stoutly arm-wrestled Jamaica’s Commissioner of Police, Dr. Kevin Blake, on female murder statistics during his presentation in Plantation, Florida, recently returned to the Island Space Caribbean Museum for the launch of her debut novel on domestic violence.
Her publication, For The Women Painted Purple, a gripping narrative of violence against women in St Ann, Jamaica, with a mysterious vigilante emerging, is as real as one can imagine. The story follows four women, all different personalities and all abused — one a Christian and married to a high school principal; another, a bank branch manager; one attending the Maritime Institute, her education sponsored by an older man; and the fourth, a kept woman, college-educated, a maiden who’s a fixture at a private home of an older man as well — known to us as a ‘sugar daddy.’
Going through hell, they all start seeing the same therapist, who is also a victim of domestic violence. Every page should hold your interest as a vigilante emerges from the group, striking back — fatally – eventually eluding the police, who are mesmerized by the daring and deception of the suspect, making her exit in the end to another Caribbean destination.
This fiction, a product of the fertile mind of the author, who holds an accredited master’s degree from FIU in mental health consulting and a bachelor’s in public health specializing in substance abuse, portrays horrors that are, however, quite real. Alarmed at how domestic violence was on the rise, she began writing the novel during the COVID-19 pandemic, deciding against writing letters to newspaper editors as she had initially considered.
Statistics are also integrated into the book, and she calmly reassures that she carries no chip. Being the mother of a son, she is also not angry with men… ‘but men need to be on notice,’ she says, ‘because as women, we’re not taking this lying down.’
This awareness, consciousness, and social value that instills discipline should begin in school, ‘where, from Grade 9,’ she says, ‘conflict resolution skills being taught should be mandatory. We also need to take a look at freeing up gun laws for women, lifting the ban on tasers and stun guns…and women should be encouraged to take up martial arts.’
She is fully aware, she says, that patriarchal socialization is systemic and things will not change in a day — or even a decade. But the book is about driving and heightening critical awareness, ‘because domestic violence is not just interpersonal — the trauma transcends relationships, affecting those surrounding, and society as a whole. Offending men must therefore be shamed in public places. There are veils to be lifted — bring back the shame.’
Davonie Green, a child growing up in Bamboo, St Ann, carrying water and standing her ground in a circle of boys, is determined, driven, and always goal-oriented. That’s a character attribute of women everywhere, knowing their value … especially ‘for the women painted purple,’ the very title of her intriguing book, putting us all on notice.
