Swallowing the Sky

by Lisa Allen-Agostini

Asha returns to Trinidad after years abroad, expecting to settle her grandmother's estate quietly. Instead, she discovers letters that reveal her family's hidden connections to the island's plantation past. Her grandmother Kamla had kept silent about their ancestors' roles as both colonized and complicit in the sugar trade. As Asha reads deeper into the correspondence, she uncovers stories of resistance and survival that span generations. The revelations force her to question everything she believed about her identity and heritage. She must decide whether to expose these family truths or protect the carefully constructed narratives that have shaped her understanding of home. The weight of inherited trauma collides with her need to forge an authentic relationship with her Caribbean roots.

Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 21st-century, family-drama

Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking

Tropes: family-secrets, uncovering-the-past

Setting: Trinidad

Period: 20th-century

Paperback · Cane Arrow Press

Content warnings: colonialism

More by Lisa Allen-Agostini

Readers who liked Swallowing the Sky also liked

View on Siftivo