Cherie Jones

A debut novel in the tradition of Zadie Smith and Marlon James, from a brilliant Caribbean writer, set in Barbados, about four people each desperate to escape their legacy of violence in a so-called "paradise." In Baxter Beach, Barbados, moneyed ex-pats clash with the locals who often end up serving them: braiding their hair, minding their children, and selling them drugs. Lala lives on the beach with her husband, Adan, a petty criminal with endless charisma whose thwarted burglary of one of the Baxter Beach mansions sets off a chain of events with terrible consequences. A gunshot no one was meant to witness. A new mother whose baby is found lifeless on the beach. A woman torn between two worlds and incapacitated by grief. And two men driven by desperation and greed who attempt a crime that will risk their freedom -- and their lives.

A Novel

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House

Et d'un seul bras, la soeur balaie sa maison

In Baxter's Beach, Barbados, Lala's grandmother Wilma tells the story of the one-armed sister, a cautionary tale about what happens to girls who disobey their mothers. For Wilma, it's the story of a wilful adventurer, who ignores the warnings of those around her, and suffers as a result. When Lala grows up, she sees it offers hope - of life after losing a baby in the most terrible of circumstances and marrying the wrong man. And Mira Whalen? It's about keeping alive, trying to make sense of the fact that her husband has been murdered, and she didn't get the chance to tell him that she loved him after all.

Shortlisted for the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction

The Burning Bush Women and Other Stories

"On peut supposer, se dit Lala, qu’un homme n’est pas vraiment méchant quand la nature elle-même ne juge jamais bon de le punir." Lala vit chichement dans un cabanon de plage de la Barbade avec Adan, un mari abusif. Quand un de ses cambriolages dans une villa luxueuse dérape, deux vies de femmes s’effondrent. Celle de la veuve du propriétaire blanc qu’il tue, une insulaire partie de rien. Et celle de Lala, victime collatérale de la violence croissante d’Adan qui craint de finir en prison. Comment ces deux femmes que tout oppose, mais que le drame relie, vont-elles pouvoir se reconstruire ? Derrière des paysages caribéens idylliques, un intense et poignant portrait de femmes blessées depuis des générations. Renversant de grâce et d’émotions à vif, Et d’un seul bras, la soeur balaie sa maison est un premier roman déchirant qui prouve que l’héritage des traumatismes est tenace, mais pas toujours irrémédiable. « La narration vous coupera le souffle. » The New York Times

In these sometimes strange, funny, tragic and truthful stories, Cherie Jones weaves paths through the joys and suffering of women's lives. The writing occupies an in-between space between the magical and the realistic, exploring the tensions between the African folk wisdom Nanan passes on from the ancestors to her grand-daughter, and the colonised dictums that the mother in 'The Bride' offers her daughter about how a respectable woman lives.

Cherie Jones

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