First published 2021
The earth splits beneath Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010. A wealthy expatriate hides the existence of her secret daughter. An architect designing affordable housing for an NGO watches his blueprints become meaningless. A drug dealer thinks of the call girl he loves while buildings collapse around him. A sex worker and her partner run from a man they believe embodies death itself. A taxi-driving musician who left Haiti years ago finds himself trapped in the chaos he thought he had escaped. A teenage girl sees her telenovela dreams crumble with the concrete. In a displacement camp, a mother grieves while her accountant husband makes an impossible choice between survival and love. Their son moves between life and death. An old market woman who sells produce remembers all their stories. Ten voices emerge from the rubble. Each carries hope forward through devastation.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: multiple-perspectives, social-commentary
Setting: Haiti, Port-au-Prince
Period: 2010
320 pages · ebook · Harper Perennial
Content warnings: death