In Caribbean writer Antoni's second novel (after Divina Trace, 1992), drenched to soddenness with lush language and symbolism, two women—one black, one white—tell their melodramatic life stories to an unborn child. As black maid Vel lies on her employer's bed recovering from a failed abortion done with a pair of scissors, Lilla Grandsol, her white mistress, is stirred to recall moments in her own life. Read full book review >
Old Granny Myrna, on her deathbed, tells her grandson, Johnny Domingo, the miraculous Caribbean tale of Magdelena the nun who, with Barto as the father, births a half-man/half-frog child whose existence then becomes the stuff of legend and leads to Magdelena's universal canonization on the island of Corpus Christi by the whole ethnic mix. Read full book review >
