Tag Archive for: colonialism

Archipelago | Monique Roffey

Inspired by the flooding of her brother’s house in Trinidad in 2008, British-Trinidadian Monique Roffey’s novel is an immersive account of a father’s flight to the Galapagos after a catastrophic flood kills his infant son. With its sharp insights into the legacy of colonialism and the havoc wreaked by a warming planet, Archipelago is both a love letter to the quixotic Caribbean Sea and an electrifying portrayal of life lived on the front line of the climate and ecological emergency.

‘There’s a warmth to this book, an exuberance and a wisdom, that makes the experience of reading it feel not just pleasurable but somehow instructive. It’s funny, sometimes bitingly poignant. A brilliant piece of storytelling.” — Andrew Miller, author of Pure, winner of the Costa Book of the Year 2011.

Read our Librarian’s top climate change fiction picks by heading to our Fiction section’s

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The Nerves and Their Endings | Jessica Gaitán Johannesson

The body as a measuring tool for planetary harm. A nervous system under increasing stress.

In this collection that moves from the personal to the political and back again, writer, activist, and migrant Jessica Gaitán Johannesson explores how we respond to crises. She draws parallels between an eating disorder and environmental neurosis, examines the perils of an activist movement built on non-parenthood, dissects the privilege of how we talk about hope, and more. The synapses that spark between these essays connect essential narratives of response and responsibility, community and choice, belonging and bodies.

 

Jessica Gaitán Johannesson discussed her book The Nerves and Their Endings with Writers Rebel’s Toby Litt back in November 2022. Read their conversation and learn more about the book here.

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The Mermaid of Black Conch | Monique Roffey

‘His stomach trembled with desire and fear and wonder because he knew what he’d seen. A woman. Right there, in the water.’ On a quiet day, near the Caribbean island of Black Conch, a mermaid raises her barnacled head from the flat grey sea. She is attracted by David, a fisherman waiting for a catch, singing to himself with his guitar. Aycayia the mermaid has been living in the vast ocean all alone for centuries.

When Aycayia is caught and dragged ashore by American tourists, David rescues her with the aim of putting her back in the ocean. But it is soon clear that the mermaid is already transforming into a woman.

This is the story of their love affair, of an island and of the great wide sea.

‘Mesmerising’ Maggie O’Farrell
‘A unique talent’ Bernadine Evaristo
‘Not your standard mermaid’ Margaret Atwood

 

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