Jenny Jaeckel

For Abejé and her brother Adunbi, home is the slave quarters of a Caribbean sugar plantation on the Antilles Island of Martinique. Under the watchful eye of their African mother, they thrive despite what threatens to break them. After a night of brutality changes their lives forever, their strength and extraordinary bond carries them through. At the dawn of emancipation, Adunbi¿s daughter Hetty finds her way to Quebec City as maid to the slave owner¿s daughters. There she discovers a talent for piano and meets a bold saddler¿s apprentice named Dax Rougeaux. After buying her freedom, Dax and Hetty join a growing community of Afro-Canadians living free.As each new generation of the family takes the spotlight, a fresh piece of the puzzle is illuminated until at last, after a span of nearly two centuries, the end brings us back to the beginning. In skillful prose, award-winning author Jenny Jaeckel masterfully blends genres of coming-of-age, folklore, and historical fiction with explorations of gender, race, and sexuality, creating a wondrous and harrowing tale of hope and healing.

A Novel

House of Rougeaux

A visually gipping graphic memoir, this book delivers the gritty details of a mother, a newborn, and a five-month stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). A routine prenatal exam reveals a dangerous problem and the first-time parents find themselves thrust into a world of close calls, sleepless nights, and psychological crisis. Surrounded by disagreements, deaths, extended family tensions, and questions of faith, the mother struggles to maintain a positive frame of mind. Against the antiseptic, mechanical reality of the NICU, the dedicated health professionals are drawn as sympathetic and wry animal characters. Doctor Eyes and Nurse Gentlehands are two of the care providers that do all they can to take care of Baby Asa. At times the parents battle feelings of helplessness but their determination, insight, bravery, and connection ultimately helps keep their little one alive.

Five Months in the Neonatal ICU

Spot 12

Nine Illustrated Stories

For the Love of Meat

For Abeje and her brother Adunbi, home is the slave quarters of a Caribbean sugar plantation on the Island of Martinique. Under the watchful eye of their mother they survive, despite what threatens to break them. But when one night of brutality leaves the two children orphaned, it is the strength of their extraordinary bond that carries them through, establishing a legacy of tremendous spirit and courage that will sustain the Rougeaux family for generations to come. In literary prose, award-winning author Jenny Jaeckel creates a brilliantly imagined epic, weaving a multi-layered narrative that celebrates family as much as it exposes systemic brutalization and the ways in which it marks us. As each new member of the family takes the spotlight a fresh piece of the puzzle is illuminated until at last, spanning nearly two centuries, the end brings us back to the beginning. Jaeckel masterfully blends genres of mysticism, coming-of-age, folklore, and historical fiction with explorations of gender and race, creating a wondrous tale of hope and healing through trauma. A relevant work of love, determination, and the many small achievements that make up greatness, House of Rougeaux draws a new map of what it means to be family.

Reminiscent of The Catcher in the Rye and Colette's Claudine, Eighteen is an intimate coming-of-age exploration of love, friendship, sex, and self-discovery, through the eyes of a uniquely observant protagonist.

Jenny Jaeckel

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