Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts
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€19.99
A01=Soraya Palmer
Anansi stories
Ariadne
Author_Soraya Palmer
Caribbean identity
Caribbean myth
Category=FBA
Circe
eq_bestseller
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_modern-contemporary
eq_nobargain
family trauma
Helen Oyeyemi
Junot Diaz
Leone Ross
The Silence of the Girls
Product details
- ISBN 9781788168403
- Weight: 400g
- Dimensions: 144 x 220mm
- Publication Date: 27 Apr 2023
- Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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'Sometimes characters are so lively and entertaining, you don't want to say goodbye to them ... A stunning feat of storytelling in itself' Suzy Feay, Financial Times
Growing up in Brooklyn with their Caribbean parents, Zora and Sasha Porter's days were enchanted by stories from the islands - the mischievous spider Anansi both seductive and vengeful; the flame-breathing Rolling Calf who haunts butchers; and ocean-dwelling Mama Dglo, said to be half snake, half human.
Now they are teenagers, and life at home has become unbearable. Their parents' tempestuous relationship has fallen apart, their mother Beatrice desperately ill, their father Nigel living with another woman. While an unsettled Zora escapes into her journal, dreaming of being a writer, Sasha discovers sex and chest binding, spending more time with her new girlfriend than at home. But they can't hide forever. The Anansi Stories that captivated them as children begin to creep into the present, revealing truths about the Porter family's past they must all face up to.
The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts is an extraordinary debut novel, a celebration of the power of stories that asks - what happens when ours are erased? Do we disappear? Or do we come back haunting?
A Today Show Most Anticipated Book of 2023
An Electric Literature Recommendation for 2023
A Goodreads Buzziest Debut of 2023
Soraya Palmer was born and raised in Flatbush, Brooklyn, NYC with roots in Trinidad and Jamaica. She works in Youth Organizing and holds a BA in Africana Studies an M.F.A. in Fiction. Her work has been published in Ploughshares, Callaloo, Black Warrior Review, and Calyx. This is her first novel.
