The Naipauls of Nepaul Street: A Memoir of Life in Trinidad and Beyond

This is a moving story of a family’s beginnings, growth and, in the context both of time and Trinidadian society, its inevitable dispersal. Savi Naipaul Akal’s memoir pays tribute to remarkable parents, so different but equal in importance to their large family. It is an account of family loyalty, sacrifice, and sometimes tensions. Through this focus, the memoir also gives a sharply observed picture of cultural change in Trinidad from colony to independent nation, of being Indian in a Creole society, of the role of education, and her parents’ encouragement of herself and her sisters to make independent lives for themselves. The memoir gives an acute analysis of the pressures that led many of the family to emigrate, but also of the good lives made by Savi and her husband that led them to ＂put down their bucket＂ and stay. Above all, this memoir offers the pleasure of writing which is elegant and lucid, with a distinctively personal voice.

Savitri Naipaul Akal was born in the Lion House in Chaguanas in Trinidad, the fifth child and fourth daughter of Seepersad and Droapatie Naipaul. She obtained a BA degree partially from Edinburgh University in Scotland (1961-1963), completed at UWI in Trinidad (1968), followed by a Diploma in Education in 1973. She was a part-time tutor in Sociology at UWI, T&T, (1968-1972), whilst her full-time post was as a teacher of Geography at the Convent schools and at Tranquillity. She retired from the latter as Vice-Principal in 1980.