Disaster catapults three children into the care of their Caribbean grandparents, before another relative, elusive and perhaps unstable, makes a conflicting claim to guardianship. Balancing domestic calamity against her own compulsive writing, Aria faces physical and psychological threats, as a pandemic creeps up on the world and the country moves into lockdown. By Such a Parting Light offers a humorous and poignant tale of aging and of coming of age, and it takes a mischievous approach to the multiple meanings of retirement. A must for all readers of Caribbean and island literature - for readers with a taste for realism that blends seamlessly into strains of the marvelous and gothic - the novel’s themes of loss and separation, love and resilience, are universally appealing. The book personalizes local and international violence and terror by bringing it all home to a small country in an international context of uncontained infection and catastrophic politics. Turning an astonished eye on developed nations from the frail shelter of a tiny island, the tale unveils alternative notions of civilization and enlightenment.
