At an astonishingly young age, Edwidge Danticat has become a writer who evokes the wonder, terror, and heartache of her native Haiti—and the enduring strength of Haiti's women—with a vibrant imagery and narrative grace that bear witness to her people's suffering and courage.
About the Book Set in the island's impoverished villages and in New York's Haitian community, this is the story of Sophie Caco, who was conceived in an act of violence, abandoned by her mother and then summoned to America. In New York, Sophie discovers that Haiti imposes harsh rules on its own.
At the age of twelve, Sophie Caco is sent from her impoverished village of Croix-des-Rosets to New York, to be reunited with a mother she barely remembers. There she discovers secrets that no child should ever know and a legacy of shame that can be healed only when she returns to Haiti—to the women who first reared her. What ensues is a passionate journey through a landscape charged with the supernatural and scarred by political violence, in a novel that bears witness to the traditions, suffering, and wisdom of an entire people.
About the Author Edwidge Danticat was born in Haiti in 1969 and raised by her aunt. She was reunited with her parents in the U.S. at age 12. She published her first writings two years later.
Danticat holds a degree in French literature from Barnard College and an MFA from Brown University. Her short stories have appeared in over 20 periodicals, and she has won awards from Seventeen magazine and from Essence, as well as a James Michener Fellowship, and was named a 2009 MacArthur Fellow. She is also the author of a short-story collection, Krik? Krak!
At an astonishingly young age, Edwidge Danticat has become a writer who evokes the wonder, terror, and heartache of her native Haiti—and the enduring strength of Haiti's women—with a vibrant imagery and narrative grace that bear witness to her people's suffering and courage.
About the Book
Set in the island's impoverished villages and in New York's Haitian community, this is the story of Sophie Caco, who was conceived in an act of violence, abandoned by her mother and then summoned to America. In New York, Sophie discovers that Haiti imposes harsh rules on its own.
At the age of twelve, Sophie Caco is sent from her impoverished village of Croix-des-Rosets to New York, to be reunited with a mother she barely remembers. There she discovers secrets that no child should ever know and a legacy of shame that can be healed only when she returns to Haiti—to the women who first reared her. What ensues is a passionate journey through a landscape charged with the supernatural and scarred by political violence, in a novel that bears witness to the traditions, suffering, and wisdom of an entire people.
About the Author
Edwidge Danticat was born in Haiti in 1969 and raised by her aunt. She was reunited with her parents in the U.S. at age 12. She published her first writings two years later.
Danticat holds a degree in French literature from Barnard College and an MFA from Brown University. Her short stories have appeared in over 20 periodicals, and she has won awards from Seventeen magazine and from Essence, as well as a James Michener Fellowship, and was named a 2009 MacArthur Fellow. She is also the author of a short-story collection, Krik? Krak!