Disaster catapults three children into the care
of their Caribbean grandparents, before another relative, elusive and perhaps
unstable, makes a conflicting claim to guardianship. Balancing domestic
calamity against her own compulsive writing, Aria faces physical and
psychological threats, as a pandemic creeps up on the world and the country
moves into lockdown. By Such a Parting Light offers a humorous and
poignant tale of aging and of coming of age, and it takes a mischievous
approach to the multiple meanings of retirement.
A must for all readers of Caribbean and island
literature - for readers with a taste for realism that blends seamlessly into
strains of the marvelous and gothic - the novel’s themes of loss and
separation, love and resilience, are universally appealing. The book personalizes local and international
violence and terror by bringing it all home to a small country in an
international context of uncontained infection and catastrophic politics. Turning
an astonished eye on developed nations from the frail shelter of a tiny island,
the tale unveils alternative notions of civilization and enlightenment.
