Susan Proudleigh (1915) is a novel by H. G. de Lisser. Born and raised in Jamaica, H. G. de Lisser was one of the leading Caribbean writers of the early twentieth century. Concerned with issues of race, urban life, and modernization, de Lisser dedicated his career to representing the lives and concerns of poor and middle-class Jamaicans. In Susan Proudleigh, one of the first West Indian novels to feature a Black protagonist, de Lisser captures the hope and struggle of a young woman leaving home for the first time. “She carried herself with an air of social superiority which was gall and wormwood to the envious; and often on walking through the lane she had noticed the contemptuous looks of those whom, with greater contempt, she called the common folks and treated with but half-concealed disdain. On the whole, she had rather enjoyed the hostility of these people, for it was in its way a tribute to her own importance.” Raised in a time of modernization in the Jamaican capital of Kingston, Susan Proudleigh is a young Black woman who dreams of improving her life. Perceived as a social climber, she becomes the target of disdain and cruelty from members of her community, especially other women. As she narrows her sights on a young man named Tom, whom she does not love but admires, and as Kingston suffers from a loss of economic vitality, Susan must choose whether to stay with her family or to move with Tom to Panama, where construction jobs abound. Susan Proudleigh is a realist portrait of twentieth century life in the Caribbean, a story of romance and ambition that examines the religious and social traditions of Jamaica in a period of massive cultural change. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of H. G. de Lisser’s Susan Proudleigh is a classic of Jamaican literature reimagined for modern readers.
