The Garden of Broken Things

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.