Land of Love and Drowning: A Novel (Paperback)
Staff Reviews
I love a novel that can pack an entire country into its pages, but Tiphanie Yanique's Land of Love and Drowning does you one better. It evokes the complex landscape of the Virgin Islands and about a century worth of its history, as well shades of magical realism, historical fiction, and a particular blend of Island gothic that is all her own. From a shipwreck in the 1900s to a romance between long lost siblings in the 1950s, all the way up to near-present day, I was riveted by this book and all the gorgeous, complicated characters and places in it. Critics have been comparing it to Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Toni Morrison, and if you're fans of those writers, you will not be disappointed. -Kea's September Staff Pick, 2014
— Kea
A critically acclaimed debut from an award-winning writer—an epic family saga set against the magic and the rhythms of the Virgin Islands.
In the early 1900s, the Virgin Islands are transferred from Danish to American rule, and an important ship sinks into the Caribbean Sea. Orphaned by the shipwreck are two sisters and their half brother, now faced with an uncertain identity and future. Each of them is unusually beautiful, and each is in possession of a particular magic that will either sink or save them.
Chronicling three generations of an island family from 1916 to the 1970s, Land of Love and Drowning is a novel of love and magic, set against the emergence of Saint Thomas into the modern world. Uniquely imagined, with echoes of Toni Morrison, Gabriel García Márquez, and the author’s own Caribbean family history, the story is told in a language and rhythm that evoke an entire world and way of life and love. Following the Bradshaw family through sixty years of fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, love affairs, curses, magical gifts, loyalties, births, deaths, and triumphs, Land of Love and Drowning is a gorgeous, vibrant debut by an exciting, prizewinning young writer.
In the early 1900s, the Virgin Islands are transferred from Danish to American rule, and an important ship sinks into the Caribbean Sea. Orphaned by the shipwreck are two sisters and their half brother, now faced with an uncertain identity and future. Each of them is unusually beautiful, and each is in possession of a particular magic that will either sink or save them.
Chronicling three generations of an island family from 1916 to the 1970s, Land of Love and Drowning is a novel of love and magic, set against the emergence of Saint Thomas into the modern world. Uniquely imagined, with echoes of Toni Morrison, Gabriel García Márquez, and the author’s own Caribbean family history, the story is told in a language and rhythm that evoke an entire world and way of life and love. Following the Bradshaw family through sixty years of fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, love affairs, curses, magical gifts, loyalties, births, deaths, and triumphs, Land of Love and Drowning is a gorgeous, vibrant debut by an exciting, prizewinning young writer.
Tiphanie Yanique is from Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands. The author of the story collection How to Escape from a Leper Colony, she is a 2010 Rona Jaffe Writers’ Award winner and was named by the National Book Awards as one of 2011’s “5 Under 35.” She teaches at the New School and lives in Brooklyn and Saint Thomas.
Praise for Land of Love and Drowning
“Yanique has written the best kind of summer read—lurid, yet layered and literary.” —NPR
“A feat of tropical magical realism.” —Vanity Fair
“Spellbinding.” —Elle
“Sink or swim is the guiding theme in this fantastical, generational novel.”—Marie Claire
“Lush.” —USA Today
“Yanique has written the best kind of summer read—lurid, yet layered and literary.” —NPR
“A feat of tropical magical realism.” —Vanity Fair
“Spellbinding.” —Elle
“Sink or swim is the guiding theme in this fantastical, generational novel.”—Marie Claire
“Lush.” —USA Today