Publisher's Synopsis
Voices from the Land of Trees tells the story of Guatemala's thirty-six years of civil war. It is a familiar tale of exploitation, poverty and repression in pursuit of 'US interests'. But the 'Silent Holocaust' of Guatemala was extraordinarily brutal even by the standards of Central America, involving CIA-trained death-squads, the widespread use of torture and rape, the deliberate targeting of churches and the genocide of 200,000 Indians.
These poems are spoken by many different voices - mothers, missionaries, children, soldiers, guerrillas, Indians, students and journalists - each struggling to be heard above the sound of gunfire and weeping, each trying to break the silence.
Voices from the Land of Trees is a work of bold historical imagination and sympathy, a contribution to the process of recovering these terrible events from official silence and collective amnesia. It is a book about suffering and liberation, about the mysteries of Mayan culture and the beauty of the small country known as the 'Land of Trees'.
"Great skill… extraordinary sensitivity, bravery and generosity. " - Penniless Press
"In this collection, to adapt Auden's phrase, poetry makes something happen. " - South
"Empathy, compassion and insight." - Stride
"Beautiful moving and hart-wrenching poetry… a brave, bold and important piece of writing. " - Small Press Review
"Voices from the Land of Trees is a visceral and moving work wrenched from Guatemala's violent past. Angry and compassionate, Abigail Zammit's own voice discovers an excoriating yet redemptive timbre, confronting oppression and suffering whilst remaining true to moral complexity and ambivalence." - Graham Mort
