Deep Indigo: Lady Dorothy D’Oyly Carte and St. Yves de Verteuil in Tobago 1933-1978

Product Description

Daughter of an English lord, and married to the man who owned The Savoy, Lady Dorothy D’Oyly Carte enjoyed all of the privileges that wealth and position could offer in pre-war England. But then, in the 1930s, she visited Trinidad and Tobago and fell in love, both with the beauty and charm of the islands, and with the author’s great uncle, St. Yves de Verteuil. She would spend the rest of her long life in Tobago, deeply involved in the community in which she lived.

In Deep Indigo, author Elizabeth Cadiz Topp draws on family lore, historical research, and a rich imagination to breathe life into a story she first heard as a child. Infused with joy, humour and heartbreak, it tells the story of a courageous, generous and eccentric woman who defied the society she grew up in and found her own way.

Review

‘I really enjoyed the author’s evocation of an extraordinary woman. The story is written with great liveliness and clarity and is fascinating on many levels – especially the mysteriousness of love and the social history of both Britain and the Caribbean.’ -Dame Marina Warner

‘The clarity of Elizabeth Topp’s voice is so on point, I felt as if I was sipping a rum cocktail on a Trinidadian verandah whilst the author recounted this fascinating story of Dorothy and St. Yves de Verteuil. Exquisite descriptions of Trinidad and Tobago, especially the local wildlife and flora, put the reader firmly in the Caribbean, with the accounts of UK life illustrating perfectly a time past.’ -Christine Lalla, film director

About the Author

Elizabeth Cadiz Topp M.A. lives in Toronto and is a dual citizen of Canada and Trinidad and Tobago. With a background in teaching and museum education at the Art Gallery of Ontario, she more recently turned to documentary filmmaking, most notably 70: Remembering a Revolution (2010), co-directed with Alex de Verteuil, and Jab: The Blue Devils of Paramin (2006). This is her first book.