WHEN WE WERE BIRDS

A gravedigger and a mysterious, powerful young woman are drawn together when the worlds of the dead and the living collide in Trinidad.

This wonderfully original debut novel unspools at the stormy crossroads that separates the living and the dead. Blending sobering urban realities with a Caribbean-infused magical realism, Banwo has created a unique world expansive enough to contain a ghost story, a love story, a mysterious mythology, and a thoughtful examination of how family bonds keep us firmly rooted to our pasts. Set in Trinidad, the novel follows the fortunes of Darwin and Yejide, both of whom are struggling through great emotional upheavals. Darwin has left his country home to find work in the city, but the only job he can get is hard labor in a giant cemetery. He’s not afraid of the work, but such a job requires him to abandon his Rastafarian upbringing and its edict about staying away from the dead—and it means betraying his devout mother. Meanwhile, Yejide has always existed close to death, growing up in time to its rhythms and rules. One woman in each generation of her family is called to escort souls to the afterlife, but now that her dying mother is passing on this legacy to her, its traditions and responsibilities weigh heavily. As Darwin begins to suspect that his co-workers at the cemetery are involved in heinous crimes and Yejide senses the dead are uneasy instead of at rest, their paths collide during a raging storm. Their attraction is immediate and undeniable, but can two such disparate destinies be entwined? Banwo makes you care deeply about the outcome and deftly weaves the realistic and the fantastic into a strange and compelling tapestry. With skill and heart, she has created a world readers will happily return to, even if they don’t usually gravitate toward fantasy.

A remarkable story that blends urban reality and Caribbean-infused magical realism.