Description
Book SynopsisWhen her mother leaves Haiti to find work in the US, Sophie is raised by her aunt. Their parting, years later, when her mother sends for her, is as wrenching as the reunion in New York. Though she barely knows her mother they both carry secrets from their homeland that will haunt them forever.
Trade ReviewDanticat's calm clarity of vision takes on the resonance of folk art. In the end, her book achieves an emotional complexity that lifts it out of the realm of the potboiler and into that of poetry. The tale is lovingly dominated by powerful female characters who struggle to make better lives for themselves and their families . . . extraordinarily successful. * New York Times Book Review *
A novel that rewards the reader again and again with small but exquisite and unforgettable epiphanies . . . This quiet soul-penetrating story about four generations of women trying to hold on to one another in the Haitian diaspora . . . is loaded with folk wisdom and fairy tales, the imagery of fear and pain, and an understated political subtext that makes this first novel much, much more than the elementary domestic story it might have been. * Washington Post *
A first novel of precious humanity which mingles past and present, the horrors and delights of Haiti, in a quiet and dignified prose that would be impressive in a writer twice her age * Independent *
Extraordinary... a young and genuinely fresh voice * Time Out *
Stuffed with folk wisdom with a sprinkling of urban angst... a vision of female solidarity which transcends place and time * Sunday Times *
She delicately tiptoes with poetic intent... brief, lyrical, disturbing novel * Mail on Sunday *
Vibrant, magic... Danticat's elegant, intricate tale wraps readers into the haunting life of a young Haitian girl * Boston Globe *
Written in prose as clear as a bell, magical as a butterfly, and resonant as drum talk... An impressive debut * Julia Alvarez *
A distinctive new voice with a sensitive insight into Haitian culture distinguishes this graceful debut novel... In simple, lyrical prose enriched by an elegiac tone and piquant observations, [Danticat] makes Sophie's confusion and guilt, her difficult assimilation into American culture and her eventual emotional liberation palpably clear * Publishers Weekly *
Danticat has created a stirring tale of life in two worlds: the spirit-rich land of her ancestry, whose painful themes work their way through lives across generational lines, and her adopted country, the United States, where a young immigrant girl must negotiate cold, often hostile terrain, even as she spars with painful demons of her past * Emerge *
A first novel of precious humanity which mingles past and present, the horrors and delights of Haiti, in a quiet and dignified prose that would be impressive in a writer twice her age. * INDEPENDENT *
Extraordinary... a young and genuinely fresh voice. * TIME OUT ** *
Stuffed with folk wisdom with a sprinkling of urban angst... a vision of female solidarity which transcends place and time. * SUNDAY TIMES ** *
she delicately tiptoes with poetic intent...brief, lyrical, disturbing novel... * MAIL ON SUNDAY *
