Ibis: A Novel

(Hardback)

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A bold, witty, magical new voice in fiction, Justin Haynes weaves a cross-generational Caribbean story of migration, superstition, and a search for family in the novel Ibis.

There is bad luck in New Felicity. The people of the small coastal village have taken in Milagros, an 11-year-old Venezuelan refugee, just as Trinidads government has begun cracking down on undocumented migrantsand now an American journalist has come to town asking questions. New Felicitys superstitious fishermen fear the worst, certain theyve brought bad luck on the village by killing a local witch who had herself murdered two villagers the year before. The town has been plagued since her death by alarming visits from her supernatural mother, as well as by a mysterious profusion of scarlet ibis birds. Now, skittish that the reporters story will bring down the wrath of the ministry of national security, the fishermen take things into their own hands. From there, we go backward and forward in timefrom the towns early days, when it was the site of a sugar plantation, to Milagross adulthood as she searches for her mother across the Americas. In between, through the voices of a chorus of narrators, we glimpse moments from various villagers lives, each one setting into motion events that will reverberate outwards across the novel and shape Milagross fate.

With kinetic, absorbing language and a powerful sense of voice, Ibis meditates on the bond between mothers and daughters, both highlighting the migrant crisis that troubles the contemporary world and offering a moving exploration of how to square where we come from with who we become.

Reviews

A fishing village plagued by ghosts and omens unites to protect a refugee girl in Justin Hayness potent novel. * ISABELLA ZHOU, Foreword *
Justin Haynes proves himself an absolute alchemist of fiction with his carefully crafted mixture of unexpected sources culled and combined to tell the story of a Venezuelan child refugee and the people of New Felicity in Ibis, a novel that expands our understanding of magical realism. Characters journal entries and letters, and even the newspaper articles they read, come together to make a world where people recognize and respect the omen of the ibis and other occult occurrences. This is a stunning debut as witty as is it is rapturous. * JERICHO BROWN, MacArthur Fellow and Pulitzer Prizewinning author of The Tradition *
Justin Haynes delivers an evocative coastal world where the tide and the sky have as much power as governments and borders. Ibis moves the reader through Caribbean history and nature, driven by a compelling ensemble, some looking for truth and some hiding it. Striking in its language and imagery, this debut comes alive with a vibrant mixture of beauty, mystery, and quiet ferocity. * RAVI HOWARD, award-winning author of Like Trees, Walking and Driving the King *
This brilliant, shape-shifting novel teems with charms and curses, stunning disasters and startling moments of grace. Haynes is a thrillingly original writer who writes about the thin veil between worlds with spectacular range and scope. * JENNY OFFILL, author of Weather *
Ibis took me to totally unexpected places. Its vivid, witty, and heartbreaking as it reckons with myths, migration, and found family. Long after I turned the last page, Im still thinking of this novel's interrogation of the histories of Venezuela and the Caribbean. What shaped us Who have we become Who will we choose to be * BREANNE MC IVOR, author of The God of Good Looks *

Author Bio

Justin Haynes was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and later moved to Brooklyn, New York. Having earned his MFA from Notre Dame, he continued his graduate studies at Vanderbilt University. He has been awarded various fiction residencies and fellowships, including from the Fine Arts Work Center, the Vermont Studio Center, the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and the Tin House Summer Workshop. His writing has been published in a variety of literary magazines and journals, including Caribbean Quarterly, SX Salon Small Axe Project, and PREE. Justin lives in Atlanta and teaches English at Oglethorpe University.