Ayanna Lloyd Banwo’s When We Were Birds packs a punch as it flies.

The story follows Yejide (Jide) and Darwin (Emmanuel Darwin). Yejide navigates learning that her family comes from a line of people who guide the dead after her mother passes away. In desperate need of money and with hope to help his mother, Darwin takes a role digging graves in the city of Port Angeles. But it is the dead that brings the two characters together. They meet at Fidelis Cemetery, Port Angeles. You are in Trinidad now.

Banwo brings Trinidad to us by infusing Trinidadian English (TE). The language bounces off the pages as each moment plays out in front of us. You see it in Granny Catherine’s (Yejide’s Grandma) stories, and in the way Yejide, Darwin and all the characters speak with one another. As we follow the novel to its end, it’s unavoidable to notice in speech and description, death is woven into every aspect of its pages. For instance, the very foundation of Yejide’s life in Port Morne Marie comes out of a story involving the death of two enslaved African people. Yejide loses her mother; Darwin has to end his relationship with his mother to earn money, which is its own metaphorical death. This marks a new phase in his life as he transitions from Rastafarian to his own mores. We even learn that Darwin’s father died while looking for work in Port Angeles.

The city of Port Angeles, a character in itself, evokes death with its existence. It is described as housing broken and fecal matter covered states; having many road accidents; and moving on when people are killed for no reason. Sure, there are people living there but every moment seems as though they are just waiting for death to snatch them up. It’s a dog eat dog world. This becomes even more apparent when Darwin finds out his colleagues kill to earn more money on the side.

Despite the heaviness of death all around, When We Were Birds still doles out beautiful messages of resilience and love. Mr. Julius, a man later murdered by the other grave diggers, shows unrelenting love for his wife. Yejide is loved fiercely by Seema and her stepfather, Peter. Peter shows devotion to Petronella, Yejide’s mum. The men of Morne Marne understand that the women in their lives are powerful. But most of all, Darwin and Yejide find each other through the fog. Even though they almost choose to run from everything, they manage to give each other strength and Yejide saves Darwin from certain death.

When We Were Birds is not an easy read. Not only because the language may be unfamiliar but because it challenges you to see death in every corner of its pages. But, in doing so, it also forces you to consider the ways in which each character chooses to live. After all, life is for the living.

An absolutely remarkable feat of a novel. The writing is superb and lyrical and so captivating. I would loooove to hear this as an audiobook, as I feel like the right narrator (maybe Banwo herself?) would deliver a magical tale.

Highlighted in many descriptions of the book, the specific relationship between the protagonists is but a small part of the story; it doesn't really come into play until much later on. For this reader at least, Banwo's gorgeous debut is more about legacy and choice, and how these intertwine to make us who we are. Readers unfamiliar with Trinidadian English might experience difficulties getting into the prose. Note that this is less a reflection on Banwo's writing than it is a reminder of the dominance of standard English, across literature and other fields.

Beautiful and lyrical, When We Were Birds blends a magical realist Trinidad with the fury and passion of a storm. Darwin, raised by a devout Rastafarian mother, would have taken any job that didn't force him to deal with the dead - if there were any. To take the only position available to him, at a graveyard, Darwin shaves his head and tries to keep his faith quiet. Yejide knows she will soon have to take over for her mother, Petronella, in her family's role as caretaker to the dead. With swooping prose, Darwin and Yejide meet and fall in love amidst the constant death and decay around them. the dead lie in their graves uneasily, though, and the corruption of Port Angeles catches up with the couple.

The tale of When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo explores family, history, legacy, and what it means to carry on all that we are taught about our fate. Definitely worth a read!

A mythic love story set in Trinidad, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo's radiant debut introduces two unforgettable outsiders brought together by their connection with the dead. Raised in the countryside by a devout Rastafarian mother, Darwin has always abided by the religious commandment not to interact with death. Cut to.....Yejide a St Bernard woman in every generation has the power to shepherd the city’s souls into the afterlife.
This relationship blossoms before our very eyes and I am totally here for it. I enjoyed the tale spun from the author. I didn't feel it was too rushed at all. I love genre benders because it allows my mind to run free and frolic amongst the story. This fantaRomstery (new word) is worth the read!

This one was a little bit of a slow burn at first. Very beautifully written, just slow to get moving. With that said: once it gets going, you cannot wait to start reading again! This one is amazing. Thanks Netgalley.

Side note: the cover is amazing. It’s eye catching and I picked it based on the cover alone.

When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo is a mythical love story set in Trinidad. A heartwarming folkloric tale of Tao spirits finding each other through death and life. This story is about family and history and legacy and what it means to carry on all that we are taught about our destiny.

Yejide's mother is dying and she must eventually take her mother's place as the matriarch. In addition, she is guided by her maternal ancestors and their burdens of ensuring that the dying find their way to the afterlife.

Darwin is a rastafarian raised by his mother who is all about embracing nature and praising all things living. Stepping into his manhood, he must find a job that can provide for him and his mother. Only problem, the job he can get is a grave digger.

They both have visions of meeting each other and their paths cross at the cemetery where the dead rest uneasy and they must find away for the souls to live in the spirit world.

This story started slow and I had to push through because I was anxious for them to meet. I also wanted to learn more about Yejide's magical powers with her visions and communicating with the dead. When the main characters finally meet it felt familiar-the love was meant to be. I enjoyed the tone of this novel very lyrical where you felt you was right there in the conversations-sound like you listening to your own family talk!

The characters were complex, but it didn't come across as a romance story, but a story of belonging, of family relationships, of the struggles between mother and daughter and the things left unsaid. This story is about family responsibility and trying to please everyone leaving yourself empty.

I wanted more from this story. I wanted to be able to transform into a bird and fly!

Thanks Netgalley for the advance copy.

I'm so glad that this came recommended in my inbox. What a great book! The writing, the characterizations, the detail, the lushness. It is incredibly engrossing and a def recommend from me!

When We Were Birds is a book I did not know I needed until I got to the very last page. I rarely dream of the books I read, however Ayanna Lloyd Banwo creates a world that will consume you.
I have yet to stop thinking of Darwin and Yejide and I doubt I will.

With this being a debut novel I cannot wait to see what the future holds for Ayanna.

Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I did really enjoy this book, but I have mixed feelings about some things.

The story itself was somewhat intense, always interesting, and written in a way that made you feel really immersed. The thing I didn’t like was the “insta love” story. I found the love story to be too rushed and I thought it had a negative impact on other relationships in the story in a way I didn’t vibe with.

Overall though, I thought this book was good!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This was a beautifully written first novel from the author combining mythic fantasy, romance, and the crime/mystery genres. It was so much more than I expected and I am so honored to have been able to read the ARC. I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. It Is set in Trinidad and was just so magical and amazing.

What an alluring, epic tale of two young people who have old souls, hard lives, tough responsibilities and uncertain futures!

Yejide who recently says goodbye to her mother, carrying heavy burden of her ancestors and the mission her mother gave her. For years they formed dysfunctional relationship because of mother of Yejide’s neglectful and bitter attitudes towards her own daughter. Now Yejide rightfully denies her legacy that she’s forcefully inherited. Each woman at her family is assigned to accompany the dying people to their afterlife journey! She doesn’t want to part of this tremendously challenging mission and she has every right to find a way out!

Our other main character is Darwin who has been raised by Rastafarian religion rituals : always abided by those religious condemnation advises not to interact with the death. But now he’s acting against his family’s wishes because of the only job opportunity he may get: he’s gonna be grave digger to support his family financially. He also has a beef with a gangster so he must find a quick solution to get help from spirits to come out alive!

Both characters’ paths are intercepted at the gates of Fidelis: an ancient and sprawling cemetery where the restless souls are lurking around.

The slow start of the book made me a little impatient but I kept reading because the plot picked my interest. Luckily as soon as our main characters meet with each other, things get heated.

Their love story was adorable but also there are so many things are kindly approached like family traditions, dysfunctional mother- daughter relationships, inheritance, thin line between life and death, class differences.

Overall: it was well written, well developed and definitely well executed, fantasy fiction.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo is a beautifully written debut novel about mystical love and honoring our ancestral bonds.

Darwin has been raised in the Rastafarian religion and believes “the dead is for the dead, and the living is for the living.” But all that changes for him when he accepts the only job available to him as a gravedigger at the largest cemetery in town to help support himself and his mom. Not only does this job go against his faith and everything he was taught to believe, he also gets on the bad side of a local gangster and must rely on his smarts and the aid of the spirits to help him come out alive. Meanwhile, Yejide comes from a long line of powerful women responsible for helping to usher souls into the afterlife after death. She is also dealing with complex emotions surrounding the death of her mother whom she was never close to, and her new “inheritance” and role as the leader of the family. A family with a grave mission (no pun intended lol) that her mother left her woefully unprepared for. She carries a lot on her shoulders and she doesn’t know where to start.

This novel starts out a bit of a slow burn. I admittedly found myself a little bored in the beginning with its slow pacing and waiting for Darwin and Yejide to finally meet. But the descriptive writing style was so vivid and well done, I was able to keep on. However, once Yejide and Darwin do cross paths and the action starts, the novel definitely becomes more engrossing and I kept picking it up to see what would happen next. You can’t help but root for them at every turn, and there are definitely some suspenseful moments towards the end. But this novel is not just about the romance, it also addresses complex themes of mother-daughter relationships, unrequited love, classism, and family bonds. I also loved the author’s exploration of ancestral veneration and how family lineage is so crucial to identity and we must never forget those who came before us. This book was ultimately a beautiful read and I know it will make waves when it releases in 2022.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the e-ARC.

In When We Were Birds, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo weaves together magic and the mundane to create a story that feels epic and intimate in equal measure. The novel centers around two people: Darwin, a young man hired as a gravedigger who struggles to reconcile his Rastafari faith with the proximity to death demanded by his new job, and Yejide, the heir to a matrilineal legacy that includes the ability to communicate with the dead. As Darwin navigates his inadvertent connection to a nefarious criminal enterprise and Yejide confronts her complicated grief at her mother's passing, the two encounter each other at the cemetery where Darwin works, and a romance develops.

Banwo is an excellent storyteller, and her knowledge of Trinidad & Tobago, where When We Were Birds is set, shines through in the specificity of her description, the complexity of her characters, and the rhythm of her language. The novel is immediately transporting, and my one critique is actually that it felt like it ended too soon. I want to know more about the magic that Yejide possesses—both her responsibilities as someone who can hear the dead and the limitations imposed by this generational gift. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I'm excited to see what Banwo does next!

Thank you to Netgalley and Doubleday for the ARC!

A riveting story, combining mythic fantasy, romance, and the crime/mystery genres without belonging fully to any one. While a note at the front of the book says that even the geography is fictional, Banwo uses the real history, mythology, religious practices, and culture of Trinidad to create a fully realized, tangible world where an underemployed Rastafarians accepting a religiously-taboo job as a gravedigger, and a daughter begrudgingly coming into her inheritance as a psychopomp, seem equally real. Banwo uses the shifting perspective chapters so frequently seen in modern romance, but here they serve to elucidate the struggles of creating a respectable livelihood, how to live and understand oneself while never knowing one parent and experiencing an estrangement from the other, and crime, injustice, and the uneasy dead. It's difficult to have any idea where it will be shelved, and I loved it.

There's a sad, old saying, "You are born, you suffer, you die". Ayanna Lloyd Banwo has produced a powerful addition to that philosophy with her debut novel, "When We Were Birds". Set in Trinidad/Tobago, it follows the plight of hardscrabble families, struggling to survive. You take what you can get, and usually get more than you can take. Life goes on, until it's over.

Darwin is a good son, committed to helping his mother spend her final days in comfort and dignity. But he has to leave home to look for work in the big city, replicating the path of a father who never returned. It's not easy for a country boy to fit in in the big city. There is opportunity for a hard working man. There is also irresistible temptation. Mother does not approve.

Banwo brings us into her world gently at first, introducing the patois used in the country. She soon ups the ante, asking the reader to parse a world where dreams are often real, ghosts come and go, only to reappear. The line between life and death is thin, if there is a boundary at all. Two-dimensional characters soon acquire depth, richness, pathos, and beauty. "When We Were Birds" is simply a wonderful read, one that will stay with the reader for a good, long while.

Thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley for the eARC.