Dombey the Zombie,” a whimsical supernatural tale that has appeared in numerous collections of ghost and horror stories over the years. He produced a number of memorable poems and short stories, one of which may be the most anthologized story yet written by a Barbadian, “Mr. He wrote at least five novels, yet Christopher and Zohara are the only published novels Drayton has to his credit.

26, entitled “Christopher.” In 1959, Collins in England published Drayton’s first novel, Christopher, which was followed two years later by Zohara, published by Secker & Warburg, also in the United Kingdom. In 1958, Coles Printery produced an excerpt of Drayton’s unpublished novel, reprinted from Bim, Vol. Through the late 1940’s and 1950’s, various pieces of Drayton’s work appeared in Bim, a West Indies literary journal. This was his job, but his first love was writing and that passion never waned. In that capacity he traveled the world, principally the Middle East, during which time he also acted as an advisor to many governments on matters concerning the petroleum industry. Drayton found his way back to England where he began a career as a writer for the Petroleum Times, a trade publication for the oil industry, where he assumed the role of editor a few years later. Ryerson Press in Toronto published, in 1950, Three Meridians, a collection of his poetry. He also wrote short stories, such as 'Mr Dombie the Zombie', which was broadcast on the BBC programme Caribbean Voices. He returned to Barbados once his studies were completed and after another teaching stint he left for Ottawa. Drayton was the author of one volume of poetry, Three Meridians (1950), and two novels: Christopher (1959), which was first published in part in Bim magazine, and Zohara (1961).

He taught for a year at Lodge School before leaving Barbados for England, where he attended Cambridge and studied Economics, attaining both undergraduate and graduate degrees in that discipline. Drayton graduated from Harrison College at the age of 19. Geoffrey Drayton was born on the island of Barbados on February 13, 1924, near Bridgetown.

Zohara by Geoffrey Drayton