How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House
A Novel
by Cherie Jones
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Pub Date Feb 02 2021 | Archive Date Jul 24 2021
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Description
In the tradition of Zadie Smith and Marlon James, a brilliant Caribbean writer delivers a powerful story about four people each desperate to escape their legacy of violence in a so-called "paradise."
In Baxter’s Beach, Barbados, Lala’s grandmother Wilma tells the story of the one-armed sister. It’s a cautionary tale, about what happens to girls who disobey their mothers and go into the Baxter’s Tunnels. When she’s grown, Lala lives on the beach with her husband, Adan, a petty criminal with endless charisma whose thwarted burglary of one of the beach mansions sets off a chain of events with terrible consequences. A gunshot no one was meant to witness. A new mother whose baby is found lifeless on the beach. A woman torn between two worlds and incapacitated by grief. And two men driven into the Tunnels by desperation and greed who attempt a crime that will risk their freedom – and their lives.How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House is an intimate and visceral portrayal of interconnected lives, across race and class, in a rapidly changing resort town, told by an astonishing new author of literary fiction.
One of 2021's Most Anticipated New Fiction
The Millions * Lit Hub * O Magazine * Elle.com * Entertainment Weekly * Minneapolis Star-Tribune * Bustle
Advance Praise
“A hard-hitting and unflinching novel from a bold new writer who tackles head-on the brutal extremes of patriarchal abuse.” —Bernardine Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, Other
“Harrowing . . . A compelling […] story of lives defined by trauma generation after generation.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Intense . . . Rich characters and pulsing backstories add a great deal of flavor to the drama. Jones is off to a strong start.” — Publishers Weekly
“This book unfolds around the reader like ripples in water, it offers an unflinching vision of what it means to have a body and to fight to protect that body, it demands attention. These are characters voices I will be hearing for a long time and a book I will be recommending to everyone.” —Daisy Johnson, author of Sisters
“A gripping thriller, a symphony of voices, and a novel of deep empathy.” —Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9780316536981 |
| PRICE | $27.00 (USD) |
Featured Reviews
Megan M, Librarian
A beautifully written novel of love and violence set in Paradise. The story focuses on Lana, the latest in a lineage of women who have become ensnared in a cycle of domestic abuse, her criminal husband, and the ex-pats he targets.
Cathe O, Librarian
Set in Barbados, a novel featuring career criminals, victims of violence, and rich ex-pats. Violent, sad, and horrifying, but so well-written and so real that you have to find out what's going to happen next.
Diane P, Educator
Damn. I haven't read such an impressive novel in awhile. Cherie Jones can spin a story. The narrative and prose of this novel was incredible. It's rare that I think I'd like to hear the author read this book to me, but with this book, there were times I imagined hearing her voice, and that was part of what makes this such a successful novel: I heard the characters in my head. Jones doesn't just spin a story, she includes details of toenails that linger with you after you finish the novel, even though there was nothing dramatic about the toenails, it's how she makes us see how a gigalo remembers a client's nails, and how that alerts our senses are we read this rich novel.
This novel takes place in Barbados, a touristy island where the wealthy and impoverished more or less depend on each other for their needs. The main character is Lala, a young woman born to another young woman who was born to another young woman, and all the young women are treated like shit by the men in their lives, and the grandmother, Wilma, just can't muster the strength to protect her daughter or granddaughter from her vicious husband. The only man who really comes across as trustworthy in he novel is the foreign doctor who reaches out to help the women. Tone, who meet at 15, after he has been raped, loves Lala but fears her husband, whom is his childhood friend, a brute of a man. But Tone, when he remembers this rape, is also a violent man. No one can escape their past, yet, they keep trying.
The conversations between Wilma and her daughter and granddaughter, the way she forces them to sleep in the outhouse to protect them from her husband, are so deeply troubling while being so deeply familiar.
As the novel comes to an end, which I didn't want to happen, all the loose ends start falling in place, and there's a brief moment of optimism, yet, as readers, we wonder if Lala ever learns who is her father, ever returns to this island, if Tone's ever able to be free of the "Thing" that controls his life.
I will say this: After climbing the ladder to exit the pool today, I was glad a man offered me hand, and was reminded that not all men are so damaged and damaging as the men in this beautiful novel.
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