The story flowed well and the characters were well developed. I recommend this book and look forward to more from this author.


****Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review****

Content Warnings: Murder, Domestic Abuse, Police Brutality, Violence Against Women

I have so much to say about this novel, but for those who do not wish to read a long review, I will say simply this: Roffey's novel made me upset because it was so real. While fictional, any woman alive (who doesn't have on a blindfold) can tell you that this is real everyday life. Women are killed and it gets covered up. Especially women of color...their names and faces hidden in the newspaper if mentioned at all.

"Passiontide" is a poignant and provocative novel that begins with the murder of a Japanese woman on a Caribbean island. On Carnival. She was no stranger to the island, and had many friends there, yet she was murdered, lying in filth and pee. And at first it seems like no one cares. Yet when two local women find out, one a reporter and another the leader of a women's activist group, they decide they have had enough of femicide on their tiny island, enough of murder, domestic abuse and incest being seen as commonplace.

This novel is packed with quotable moments, words that pierce your soul because they are real and relevant in our culture. I say this because it is true of every culture. Another aspect of this novel that I appreciate is the fact that the author includes free form poetry, changing up the narrative style every so often. The multiple POVs also give us a more well-rounded feel of the various characters. From doctors to cops to activists to sex workers. We see how they all think and what they feel about this death and the protest they have staged because of it. When the women choose to occupy the town square and the mayor blames the victim, Sora Tanaka, for her own death, national outrage turns global. And what was once a few handfuls of women turn into thousands, all doing what they can to have their voices heard. Roffey also alludes to Lysistrata, when the women deny sex, in every form, and men who once thought themselves above it all come to terms with the fact that women aren't simply there to be looked at and slept with...women are people too.

The various occupation methods that Roffey cooks up are ingenious and the inclusion of women from all walks of life and religions adds to the poignancy of the piece. When a woman is murdered, regardless of what she wears, she is not asking for it. Nor is it her fault. Regardless of her religion, skin tone, occupation, or class, no woman minding her own business wants a man to grab her from behind. Throughout this novel we see snippets of Sora's ghost voice her thoughts and while Roffey leaves some important questions unanswered...the same can be said in the real world.

One woman's death turns the world of this novel upside down. And it was a striking read. (The only reason I give it four stars is because of the language.) Side note: if you do not like reading in dialects/vernacular accents, this may not be your first choice.

Roffey has such a wonderful writign style that I gravitated towards. She has a wonderful style that balances the plot, characters, and heavy topics that all play important roles in this book. This book has such a powerful message, and I loved reading about it.

There is much to admire in Passiontide, Monique Roffey’s latest, soon-to-be published novel. Set in Port Isabella on the Caribbean island of St. Colibri (a fictionalized Trinidad) during Lent and Passiontide a few years ago, this novel focusses on the events set off on the last night of Carnival by the horrific murder of Sora Tanaka. Sora is a young Japanese, well known to the Port Isabella community from her yearly visits at Carnival time to play steel pan music with the best of the local pan players. Although Sora’s murder is at the heart of the novel, Passiontide is not a murder mystery. It is about the attempt of the women of the island to bring about change, through peaceful protests, to St. Colibri’s extraordinarily high rate of femicide, wife-beating, and other woman abuse. The women’s ultimate antagonists are those in power who are either religious misogynists or indifferent male government officials. What the women experience is the power they can have when large numbers representing all classes, economic levels, and social status unite in their common quest for change from patriarchal power and values.

My memory of this novel will be of voices, layers of voices, mostly women’s voices, but men’s voices as well, voices expressing deep sorrow, rage, anxiety, terror, love, joy, shock, despair, hope, fear. We hear through the victim, the murderer, the detective in charge, the mayor, the prime minister, the pathologist. And then there is the voice of pan music, born on the island, carrying both its greatest sorrow and most powerful joy. The story is mostly carried by the voices of four women who could be said to be the main characters: Tara, already an activist and head of the small group of feminists on the island; Sharleen, a reporter covering women’s issues for the local newspaper; Gigi, a prostitute and leader of a group advocating for the protection of prostitutes; and Daisy, wife of the Prime Minister, whose sister had also been the victim of an unsolved murder. Tara and Gigi begin the protest by planning a peaceful occupation of the public space outside the Prime Minister’s office building. From this decision, the plot builds as the women grow in number and in goals. All is held together loosely within the structural framework of the liturgical season—Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday.

And then of course, there is Roffey’s own voice, her way with words: her skillful use of imagery, symbolism, and diction. The characters usually speak a highly colloquial dialect, using even obscurely slangy words, making the novel a very intimate experience, even though for many readers, it will also feel foreign. And Roffey’s themes couldn’t be more timely. I really loved Passiontide and look forward to September, when I’ll be able to buy a hardbound copy just in time for a reread.

Read if you like an exotic island setting, with a very hardheaded look at the facts of women’s lives in far too many places in today’s world, and a story of a group of women uniting for change.

My thanks to Penguin-Random House and NetGalley for this arc.