The Nature of Things

Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat My rating: 5 of 5 stars Claire of the Sea Light is a book as luminous as its title. Edwidge Danticat's 2013 novel about the little seaside town of Ville Rose in her native Haiti is a hypnotic read and I was mesmerized from the first scene. Ville Rose has an air of magic about it, yet it is a town where tragedy is an everyday part of life. The story begins with a tragedy. A poor fisherman out on his boat in the early morning is swamped by a rogue wave as his friend, Nozias, another poor fisherman watches from shore. The man and his boat disappear beneath the wave. We learn that Nozias would usually have been out in the early morning with his friend but he had delayed putting out to sea on this day. It is his daughter's seventh birthday. If he had gone out, he, too, would have been swamped and would have left his daughter an orphan. Claire Limyè Lanmè - Creole for Claire of the Sea Light - is that daughter. Her mother, also named Clai...

When I was in the eighth grade (I think), I had to do a book report in English class. I don't remember why now but for some reason, I chose to report on a book by Kenneth Roberts called Lydia Bailey . Roberts was known in those days for writing sometimes overwrought historical fiction that always contained a bit of a mystery, a bit of romance, and a bit of suspense. Lydia Bailey was all of that. I had forgotten this book, or at least pushed it to the recesses of my mind, but what brought it back to the forefront today was the latest tragedy in Haiti. You see, much of the book took place in Haiti during the time of the rebellion led by Toussaint L'Overture in the late 18th century. In fact, that was the only part of the book that I actually remembered. When I looked it up via my friend Google today, I found that it actually started in Boston, moved to Haiti and then to the Barbary Coast. But what had stuck with me was Haiti. Roberts wrote vividly of the landscape and peo...