A Million Aunties: A Novel

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Description

American-born artist Chris is forced to reconsider his own concept of 'family' during a visit to his mother's Caribbean homeland.

After a personal tragedy upends his world, American-born artist Chris travels to his mother's homeland in the Caribbean hoping to find some peace and tranquility. He plans to spend his time painting in solitude and coming to terms with his recent loss and his fractured relationship with his father. 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, this 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, France.

'A Million Auntiesis an elegantly written and emotionally engrossing work of fiction.'Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prizewinning author ofGirl, Woman, Other

'A Million Auntiesgives us the stories of an unlikely cross-world community brought together by anguish, loss, difference, the healing gifts of art, and above all, the loves of women. Under her deceptively revealing title, Alecia McKenzie recreates Jamaica's enduring traditions in fresh and illuminating ways that make this one of the most avant-garde fictions I have read in a long time.'Curdella Forbes, author ofA Tall History of Sugar

Reviews

"Have you ever not wanted a book to end Were disappointed that the characters are gone from your life A Million Aunties by Alecia McKenzie is one such novel that makes you yearn for more."
--New York Journal of Books

"A wide-ranging novel told in several voices that moves between New York, rural Jamaica, and Paris. Painting is at the heart of the book but so is family, love, heartbreak, and loss. The story pulls you in and holds you right till the end. It's strongly written with a delicate touch."
--New West Indian Guide

"Racial identity, nonfamilial relationships, and the restorative nature of art are all explored as McKenzie considers the possibility of regeneration of the human spirit even as we grapple with the tragedies of lost loves and changing worlds. McKenzie successfully integrates various speech patterns in Caribbean patois and a mixture of English and French as she takes readers on a hopeful journey across continents."
--Booklist, STARRED review, a Best New Book of the Week

"Thoroughly satisfying...This bighearted narrative of love, loss, and family is handled with grace and beauty."
--Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

"A Million Aunties is an exquisite novel about beauty and pain, and what binds us together. Through captivating character studies, quiet lovely writing and deceptively simple storytelling, McKenzie illuminates basic commonalities and rethinks what family and home mean."
--Shelf Awareness

"The beauty and brilliance of Blackness in the diaspora take centerstage in Alecia McKenzie's A Million Aunties, showcasing the intricate textures of identity, place, and connection to survive loss."
--Colors of Influence

"Full of wondrous tales of how simple acts of kindness can bring us all together, A Million Aunties is a compelling book about unlikely love, friendship, and community, sprinkled with delightful surprises along the way."
--Exclusive Magazine

"A beautiful book for anyone who knows there is more to family than blood relations. After losing his wife, NYC artist Chris travels to his mother's hometown in Jamaica and contemplates his place in the world."
--Book Culture

"A Million Aunties is an elegantly written and emotionally engrossing work of fiction."
--Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other

"A Million Aunties gives us the stories of an unlikely cross-world community brought together by anguish, loss, difference, the healing gifts of art, and above all, the loves of women. Under her deceptively revealing title, Alecia McKenzie recreates Jamaica's enduring traditions in fresh and illuminating ways that make this one of the most avant-garde fictions I have read in a long time."
--Curdella Forbes, author of A Tall History of Sugar

"McKenzie has infused this lovely novel with such life and such passion . . . [Sweetheart is] a dazzling celebration of human connection."
--Maple Tree Literary Supplement, on Sweetheart

Author Bio

ALECIA McKENZIE is a Jamaican writer currently based in France. Her first collection of short stories, Satellite City, and her novel, Sweetheart, have both won Commonwealth Book Prizes. The French edition of Sweetheart was awarded the Prix Carbet des Lycens. Her other books include Stories from Yard, Doctor's Orders, and When the Rain Stopped in Natland. Her writing has also appeared in a range of literary magazines and in anthologies such as Stories from Blue Latitudes, The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories, Bridges, Global Tales, Girls Night In, and To Exist Is to Resist. She has edited two collections of contemporary short stories, and her poetry has been published in various international journals including The Caribbean Writer and the Journal of Postcolonial Writing.