Uncertain kin

Set against the vivid backdrop of The Bahamas, these eighteen beautiful and haunting stories introduce us to women and girls searching for identity and belonging during moments of profound upheaval. These women are bold and big-hearted, complex and intimately familiar. They grapple with the bonds of kinship and the responsibilities of parenthood, with grief, longing, betrayal, coming of age and what it means to be a woman. In "Mango Summer," little girls begin disappearing from their beds during one lush, steaming August. In "Morning Swim," a jogger, newly diagnosed with cancer, makes a sinister discovery on the beach. Nassau wakes up to blood-red water pouring from its taps after a pastor decries witchcraft in "Drinking Water." In "Boyo," a woman new to Vancouver struggles to plant roots in a city that doesn't seem to want her or her young son. These stories are at once deeply grounded and tinged with folkoric and surreal elements -- and all speak to the beauty and brutality of being alive.