Mouths Don't Speak

Honorable Mention in the 2019 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature Long List!

"A captivating portrait of a woman plagued with worry about family and homeland, this beautifully written novel recalls Toni Morrison's Paradise."
--Library Journal

"Powerful . . . As Ulysse explores grief, she moves beyond her protagonist to consider the murky motivations and emotions of other characters. This is a harrowing, thoughtful dive into the aftermath of national and personal tragedies filtered through diasporic life."
--Publishers Weekly

"Ulysse gives readers a riveting story of a woman who is trying to make sense of a homescape that, if not wholly disappeared, is irrevocably altered."
--BuzzFeed

"A beautiful reminder that the obstacles we face are not who we are; rather, they make us who we are."
--Tulsa Book Review

No one was prepared for the massive earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010, taking over a quarter-million lives, and leaving millions of others homeless. Three thousand miles away, Jacqueline Florestant mourns the presumed death of her parents, while her husband, a former US Marine and combat veteran, cares for their three-year-old daughter as he fights his own battles with acute PTSD.

Horrified and guilt-ridden, Jacqueline returns to Haiti in search of the proverbial "closure." Unfortunately, the Haiti she left as a child twenty-five years earlier has disappeared. Her quest turns into a tornado of deception, desperation, and more death. So Jacqueline holds tightly to her daughter--the only one who must not die.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Akashic Books, Ltd.
Published: 01/02/2018
ISBN: 9781617755927
Pages: 224
Weight: 0.45lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.20w x 0.80d

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 10/09/2017
Library Journal 11/01/2017
Booklist 12/01/2017 pg. 26
Shelf Awareness 01/23/2018