Black Midas

Set in Guyana after colonial rule, this novel examines how greed and the struggle between social classes play out in the diamond fields. It draws a parallel between the modern prospectors and the Spanish conquistadors who plundered a continent in their search for El Dorado, and it is told with vivid, earthy, and turbulent energy.

Aron Smart is orphaned young and raised on a farm by his grandparents, who taught him to value learning. His schooling ends abruptly when his family loses its money. Discouraged by the few chances open to him, he follows his father into diamond prospecting.

He grows rich quickly, and the miners nickname him Shark. He wants his wealth to win him a place in the middle class, but he never fits comfortably among its property and status. After being swindled out of his money, he goes back to the interior and mines so recklessly that an accident leaves him badly injured. Afterward he dreams of returning to the steady, land-centered life his grandfather led.