First published 2021
Alethea Lopez approaches her fortieth birthday managing a fashionable boutique in Port of Spain. She projects independence and style to the world, but at home she conceals the bruises her partner inflicts on her. She finds escape in an affair with her boss. Everything shifts when she watches a jealous lover murder a woman. The killing forces Alethea to confront what her own life might become. She begins excavating memories she buried in childhood, piecing together how she became the woman she is today. Against the vibrant chaos of Trinidad's national festival, with its pulsing music and crowded streets, Alethea must choose between the familiar trap of her current existence and the uncertain path toward freedom. Her journey requires facing both the violence in her relationship and the deeper wounds that made her vulnerable to it.
Genres: literary-fiction, domestic-fiction, mystery, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: domestic-abuse, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Port of Spain, Trinidad
Period: 20th-century
245 pages · Paperback · Myriad Editions
Content warnings: abuse, domestic-violence, violence