Böcker av Francesca Momplaisir

Written before the earthquake that struck Haiti in 2021 comes a gripping novel about generations of women-mothers and daughters-and the 2010 quake that endangers one family on the brink and wakes the ghosts of their shared past.Genevieve, a single mother, flies from New York to Port-au-Prince with her teenage son, Miles. The trip is meant to be an education for fifteen-year-old Miles-a chance to learn about his family's roots while coming to terms with his father's departure-but it's also an excuse for Genevieve to escape the city, where her life is dominated by her failed marriage and the daily pressures of raising Black children in America. For Genevieve, the journey is also a homecoming of sorts: An opportunity to visit the island she remembers from childhood and reconnect with family. But when the country is rocked by a massive earthquake-decimating the city and putting their lives at risk-their visit becomes a nightmare of survival. Teetering on the fault line of history and one family's collapse, The Garden of Broken Things is an astonishing novel about restoration and disaster, motherhood, and the bonds that carry through generations.

"A shockingly original exploration of class, race, and systemic violence. . . . Reminiscent . . . of Toni Morrison's Beloved. . . . And, like Morrison, Momplaisir uses the tropes of fantasy to try to assert truths that ordinary language and realistic imagery cannot communicate. . . . An author to watch." --Kirkus ReviewsA literary thriller about the complex underbelly of the immigrant American dream and the dangerous ripple effect one person's damages can have on the lives of others--told unexpectedly by a house that has held unspeakable horrors.When Lucien flees Haiti with his wife, Marie-Ange, and their three children to New York City's South Ozone Park, he does so hoping for reinvention, wealth, and comfort. He buys a rundown house in a community that is quickly changing from an Italian enclave of mobsters to a haven for Haitian immigrants and begins life anew. Lucien and Marie-Ange call their home La Kay--"my mother's house"--and it becomes a place where their fellow immigrants can find peace, a good meal, and legal help. But Lucien soon falls into his worst habits and impulses, with La Kay as the backdrop for his lasciviousness. What he can't even begin to fathom is that the house is watching, passing judgment, and deciding to put an end to all the sins it has been made to hold. But only after it has set itself aflame will frightened whispers reveal Lucien's ultimate evil. At once an uncompromising look at the immigrant experience and an electrifying page-turner, My Mother's House is a singular, unforgettable achievement.

"A shockingly original exploration of class, race, and systemic violence . . . This house, tainted by the human evil it contains, is reminiscent of the opening line of Toni Morrison's Beloved. And, like Morrison, Momplaisir uses the tropes of fantasy to try to assert truths that ordinary language and realistic imagery cannot communicate . . . Momplaisir's debut introduces her as an author to watch." --KirkusFor fans of Edwidge Danticat, Mehsin Hamid, Kate Atkinson, and Jesmyn Ward: a literary thriller about the complex underbelly of the immigrant American dream and the dangerous ripple effect one person's damages can have on the lives of others--told unexpectedly by a house that has held unspeakable horrorsWhen Lucien flees Haiti with his wife, Marie-Ange, and their three children to New York City's South Ozone Park, he does so hoping for reinvention, wealth, and comfort. He buys a rundown house in a community that is quickly changing from an Italian enclave of mobsters to a haven for Haitian immigrants, and begins life anew. Lucien and Marie-Ange call their home La Kay--"my mother's house"--and it becomes a place where their fellow immigrants can find peace, a good meal, and legal help. But as a severely emotionally damaged man emigrating from a country whose evils he knows to one whose evils he doesn't, Lucien soon falls into his worst habits and impulses, with La Kay as the backdrop for his lasciviousness. What he can't even begin to fathom is that the house is watching, passing judgment, and deciding to put an end to all the sins it has been made to hold. But only after it has set itself aflame will frightened whispers reveal Lucien's ultimate evil. At once an uncompromising look at the immigrant experience and an electrifying page-turner, My Mother's House is a singular, unforgettable achievement.