First published 2019
A woman clings to an impossible dream while fighting to survive. Two friends discover unexpected romance amid their shared wounds. A marriage dissolves for reasons that seem honorable but leave lasting damage. Lovers find each other again after tragedy strikes both their relationship and their homeland. Three generations gather for a baby's christening, navigating the delicate balance between tradition and change. A man falls toward death, his life's most important moments flashing before him. These eight stories move between Miami and Port-au-Prince, reaching into unnamed Caribbean territories where characters face the forces that bind families together or tear them apart. Danticat captures the precise moment when love emerges from friendship, when noble intentions create irreparable harm, when survival demands letting go of dreams. Each story reveals how community and family shape individual lives, how geography and displacement affect the heart's deepest connections.
Genres: short-stories, literary-fiction, family-life, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, love-story
Setting: Caribbean, Miami, Port-au-Prince
Period: 21st-century
224 pages · Hardcover · Knopf
Content warnings: death