Seeking solitude after a personal tragedy upends his world, American-born artist Chris travels to his mother’s homeland, Jamaica, in a bid to find peace. He expects to spend his time painting in solitude, coming to terms with his loss and the fractured relationship with his father. But instead he discovers a new extended and complicated “family”, with their own startling stories, including a love triangle. The people he meets help him to heal, even as he supports them in unexpected ways, through his art.
Told from different points of view, A Million Aunties is a compelling novel about unlikely love, friendship, and community, with several surprises along the way. The story takes place against the backdrop of rural Jamaica, New York City and Paris.
Alecia McKenzie is a Jamaican writer currently based in France. Her first collection of short stories, Satellite City, and her novel Sweetheart both won Commonwealth literary prizes. She is the co-editor of Where We Started: Stories of Living Between Worlds – an anthology. Her articles have appeared in The Wall Street, The Guardian, New African magazine, Black Enterprise, Opera Now and others. She designed the cover artwork for some of her books.
“Alecia McKenzie engages her painter’s eye in this novel which weaves in and out of Jamaica, USA, and France and leaves us with a very kaleidoscopic, distinctive, and enticing canvas of characters and events. A Million Aunties proves that Jamaican aunties don’t have to be flesh and blood; they will auntie whoever in their circle needs space to heal, love, create, and become centred.
Through Aunt Della’s eyes we get a peep into the lives of a riveting array of characters who crisscross and connect because of love and hate and who refract and reflect the pain, sorrow and joy that is the human condition. Jamaica Library Service, Jamaica
| Author | Alecia McKenzie |
|---|---|
| Nominating Library | Jamaica Library Service, Jamaica |
| Publisher | Blouse and Skirt Books, Blue Banyon Publishing |
Search for this book in the Dublin City online system and reserve for collection at the Irish library of your choice.
This search result is offered as a helping hand to find books in the Libraries Ireland Online Catalogue. Some results may not be accurate where book titles have common words with similar titles.
