A Million Aunties
An emotional, feel-good novel about friendship, community and family
-
- 3,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
'An elegantly written and emotionally engrossing work of fiction.' Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other
An emotional, tender and funny novel from award-winning author Alecia McKenzie that asks, what does family mean to you?
Seeking solitude after a personal tragedy upends his world, artist Chris travels to his mother's homeland, Jamaica, in a bid to find peace. He expects to spend his time painting alone, coming to terms with his loss and the fractured relationship with his father. Instead, he discovers a new extended and complicated 'family' with their own startling stories. Can they help him to become whole again?
Told from different points of view, this is an utterly compelling and deeply relatable novel from the winner of two Commonwealth literary prizes. Fans of Girl, Woman, Other and The Vanishing Half will love this book about friendship, community, chosen family, and healing after trauma.
What readers are saying about A Million Aunties:
'This is a wonderful story about the families we're given and those we make for ourselves. A life-affirming read.' Louise Hare, author of This Lovely City
'This warm and wise story celebrates the importance of community and belonging.' Woman's Own
'A tender novel.' Hello
'Have you ever not wanted a book to end? Were disappointed that the characters are gone from your life?... Makes you yearn for more.' New York Journal of Books
'An absolute delight!... Trust me - if you enjoy character-driven, multicultural fiction, you're going to want to get your hands on this book ASAP.' Reader review
'Emotional, enthralling and heartfelt... A story of loss and the infinite types of love.' Woman's World
'Pulls you in and holds you right till the end. It's strongly written with a delicate touch.' New West Indian Guide
'Tender... An emotionally resonant ode to adopted families and community resilience.' New York Times
'This big-hearted narrative of love, loss and family is handled with grace and beauty.' Publishers Weekly
'A beautiful book for anyone who knows there is more to family than blood relations.' Book Culture
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jamaican writer McKenzie's thoroughly satisfying novel (after Sweetheart) explores a Jamaican American artist's grief after losing his wife in a New York City terrorist attack. Chris, 44, leaves N.Y.C. for Port Segovia, Jamaica, after his wife, Lidia, is killed in a bombing of a public park. Chris's friend and agent, Stephen, arranges for him to live with Miss Della Robinson, whom Stephen calls his "auntie," though they aren't related. In the company of Miss Della and her guests, who are drawn to the house by his paintings, he learns to laugh again. Chris's trip is cut short, however, when Stephen calls to tell Chris his father is in the hospital for surgery, and Chris flies back to New York, where he faces the rift that widened between him and his father after his mother's death from cancer six years earlier. Many characters and plot threads overlap, and McKenzie juggles them with aplomb, making Stephen the connector as aspects of Chris's artist life, Jamaican heritage, and relationship with his in-laws increasingly run together. McKenzie's prose enlivens the Jamaican scenery, describing hills that "rippled in shades of emerald" and "wind making the trees bend left and right like a spite," and she seamlessly blends the Jamaican characters' patois in first-person chapters alternating with Chris's narrative. This bighearted narrative of love, loss, and family is handled with grace and beauty.
