This Land: A Trust From God. Verna Penn Moll. Tortola: Cedar Tree Press, 2014. (The Environment And Related Topics)
This Land: A Trust From God is a book that seeks to bring renewed awareness of and commitment to our personal and collective responsibility for the protection and preservation of the environment, and our God-given duties towards the world around us. It seeks to bring insight into specific issues and concerns in the Virgin islands society at a given time. It should encourage us to measure the changes made between 1995 and now, to seek solutions, take action, and encourage change for the better.
From the Preface: “I have long admired the versatile and prolific quality of Verna’s corpus and this current work truly reflects the depth and dimension of her cultural work. The artistry of This Land: A Trust From God rests firmly upon her repertoire and deft handling of poetry, fiction, children’s literature and essay on subjects that see no difference in import between the seemingly lofty and lowly.
I feel the documentary impact of this work a well. Using all her identities, she ably navigates the realms of the spiritual, the political, the ecological, the historical and the cultural in our everyday life in the Virgin Islands – and it is all good… The collection of essays is held up like a mirror in which we now see our own reflection, our triumphs, our follies, how we have been, and how we still are. I believe readers will see themselves, their memories, their hopes, and their frustrations in and through these essays. I believe they will think, they will laugh, they will cry, they will remember, they will pray, they will resolve, and hopefully, they will act. There are many favourites that resonate personally, including ‘the bird song.’ So many impressions linger, such as the coffin makers and the wakes of yesterday and the telling of the ‘smashing of the cockroach that was resurrected by the ants’. I considered the ants and so much.
‘This Land: A Trust’ is aesthetic, accessible, and arresting. We receive it gladly, responsively and thankfully.” (Patricia Turnbull, PhD)
Reviews
“The book calls us to give thanks for every good steward who gathers the everyday we senselessly toss aside, the stewards who know its history, its character and its value; stewards who cherish The Presence in its ordinariness; those like the” long-memoried woman,” who re-collect all its many pieces, and re-present them beautifully back to us in good trust for the safekeeping of these islands, their children, and their legacy”.
(Patricia Turnbull, Ph. D)
Contact Verna About This Land: A Trust From God
Price $25.00 USC (Hardback) $20.00 USC (Paperback)
Other Non-Fiction Books by Verna Penn Moll.