The real story behind Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith’s novel ‘Sylvie’s Love and Loss’
Scholar Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith discusses why his first novel “Sylvie’s Love and Loss” is relevant now more than ever.
The novel “Sylvie’s Love and Loss” by Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith chronicles the story of Sylvie, a Caribbean woman who embarks on an epic journey to triumph over her adversity involving love, loss, and the illicit global drug trade.
Though Griffith’s first-ever novel is a work of fiction, the book is loosely based on a real woman the author met one day over a quarter of a century ago.
The writer received a grant through the MacArthur Foundation to study the concept of “geo-narcotics” in the Caribbean, which brought him to several different Caribbean countries, including Grenada. While on the island, he had agreed to deliver a package to someone for a friend. This someone happened to be a woman with one interesting backstory.
“We met at the bar. We began to drink, have hors d’oeuvres, and talk. And she became very comfortable with me. She did not know I was there studying drug issues. And so she began to relate her life story,” Griffith explained to theGrio. “She had been deported from Canada for drug trafficking. And even more interesting, she became so comfortable with me that she offered to sell me some cocaine.”
The writer declined her offer despite one particular benefit she noted: it could improve performance during sex. He did, however, vow to tell her story someday.
“I was so struck by this experience, I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to tell this story in a different form one day,’ and I pledged then,” he said.
Griffith, a scholar-turned-writer and retired political scientist, has made a career spanning decades studying the geographical impact of the global illegal drug trade throughout history and has had quite a few story-worthy experiences along the way. These experiences include Griffith himself being apprehended at an airport in South America once in 1996 under suspicion of doing the very thing he studied.
When a search of his bags yielded nothing, Griffith said the chief was very apologetic and noted that they had been having challenges with Nigerians trafficking drugs through their airport.
“Therefore, I fit the profile. I’m black. I was traveling very lightly. I was taking the first flight out of Quito to Miami,” Griffith said.
Even though he has “many” different stories, he chose to tell Sylvie’s because of its enduring universal themes around triumph over adversity, love, and loss, and the legacy of the drug trade throughout the world.
The book, published by Wordeee in September 2024, celebrates triumph over adversity and Caribbean heritage history while humanizing individuals caught up in drug trafficking. Griffith sees it as ever-relevant given its themes around immigration, especially during the current political climate.
“It’s important for us to remind ourselves that they are good folk, even among people who do terrible things like Sylvie, Sylvie’s husband, and Sylvie’s Paramore,” he noted. “Even though they did some illegal stuff, essentially, they’re good folk who got caught up in bad things.”
“Sylvie’s Love and Loss” is also a story of “resilience,” Griffith explained. Sylvie manages to take the hand she’s dealt in life and make a way out of no way.
As for the real inspiration behind “Sylvie’s Love and Loss,” Griffith hasn’t spoken to her since that first chance meeting all those years ago. If she’s still alive, he expressed interest in wanting to reconnect with her. In the meantime, he’s gearing up to write a sequel to “Sylvie’s Love and Loss” that will contain many more of the stories he’s collected over the years.
With “Sylvie’s Love and Loss” being Griffith’s first turn at fiction, he said so far he’s been “pleased” with the experience and reception the book has received.
“I’m so pleased that I’ve been able to tell a story that reflects not only loss, not only lows but the highs regarding drugs and experiences of individuals and communities,” he said.
“Some of the characters in the story reflect sentiments and values that have to do with placing family first, with rising despite the circumstances, with seeing the value of education even if you come from a dirt poor background,” he added. “So hopefully, I will have messaged the importance of not only where you came from and where you are, but where you possibly can go, who you can become, despite your circumstances.”
