“With turns to the wild, clever, and magical
that seem at once fantastic and inevitable, Tiphanie Yanique has crafted a
beautiful collection of short and not-so-short fiction. This is an exciting new
voice.”
THE “BRUTAL, SEXUAL, MAGICAL, AND
SEDUCTIVELY DISTURBING” DEBUT COLLECTION FROM AN ARRESTING NEW CARIBBEAN VOICE (ROBERT ANTONI)
For a leper, many things are impossible, and many
other things are easily done. Babalao Chuck said he could fly to other side of
the island and peek at the nuns bathing. And when a man with no hands claims
that he can fly, you listen.
The inhabitants of an island walk into the sea. A man
passes a jail cell’s window, shouldering a wooden cross. And in the
international shop of coffins, a story repeats itself, pointing toward an
inevitable tragedy. If the facts of these stories are sometimes fantastical,
the situations they describe are complex, and all too real.
Lyrical, lush, and haunting, the prose shimmers in this
nuanced debut, set mostly in the US Virgin Islands. Part oral history, part
postcolonial narrative, How to Escape
from a Leper Colony is ultimately a loving portrait of a wholly unique
place—and an unforgettable, heartbreaking, hilarious, and mesmerizing
collection.
“Tiphanie Yanique is a writer to watch. Although How to Escape from a Leper Colony is her
debut, she writes with the wisdom and confidence of an old soul. The
title story alone is worth the price of admission, but each of the stories
contained in this gorgeous collection is clear-eyed, honest while still zinging
with emotion. Tiphanie Yanique is blessed with an electric imagination,
an expansive heart, and an unflinching gaze. I can't wait to see what she
does next.”
—TAYARI JONES
“These are fiercely original, poetic, and bold stories
from a writer who is a force to be reckoned with. I loved every minute of
this book and was in awe of nearly every paragraph.”
—CRISTINA HENRIQUEZ,
author of The World in Half
“In these powerful, poetic stories set in landscapes real
and imagined, Tiphanie Yanique explores beautifully race, family, and the
complicated movements of the heart.”
—CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI,author of Sister of My Heart and The Palace of Illusions
“Let
us hail this new literary voice, vibrant, humorous, original and powerful.
These stories introduce us to a new world free of the old images and too familiar
clichés of the Caribbean.”
