By Love Possessed: Stories - Softcover

Goodison, Lorna

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062127357 ISBN 13: 9780062127358

Publisher: Amistad, 2012

Synopsis

“A beautifully written and evocative book.”
—Danielle Evans, author of Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, winner of the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize

“Written by the hand of a poet, the prose in this collection is consistently beautiful.”
—Elizabeth Nunez, author of Prospero’s Daughter and Boundaries

“I love the tender beautiful writing; I love the characters, and in many ways it felt as if I had met them before....I just love this book.”
—Uwem Akpan, author of Say You’re One of Them, an Oprah Book Club selection

Internationally renowned and award-winning poet Lorna Goodison brings us By Love Possessed, her long-anticipated collection of short fiction. Making dazzling use of the Creole patois of Jamaica, Goodison limns the beauty and despair of the human condition and explores the unique power of love to both uplift and destroy. Goodison’s powerfully moving stories explore the pain, the struggle, and the triumph of Jamaicans—particularly women—those still living on their Caribbean island and those who have emigrated elsewhere. By Love Possessed is a rare and beautiful gift from an extraordinary writer who was mentored by the legendary Derek Walcott and who stands with Edwidge Danticat as a brave and breathtaking voice in contemporary literature.

About this title

From the Back Cover

With this highly praised collection of short fiction, Lorna Goodison demonstrates why she may be one of literature's best-kept secrets. In the Pushcart Prize-winning title story, humble Dottie thinks her luck has turned when she meets Frenchie, the best-looking, if not most reliable, man in the whole of Jamaica. In "The Helpweight," an accomplished woman must bear the burden of an old flame's renewed affections when he returns from a life abroad with his Irish bride in tow. And in "Henry," a young boy turned out of his house to make way for his mother's lover sells roses on the street to survive. On a whim, he bites off a bloom, which he can feel burning inside his mouth like a red pepper light, hoping it will take root and beautify his own life. Poetically rendered, these and over a dozen other evocative stories create a world in which pride can nourish a soul or be its ruin and where people are in turn uplifted and undone by love.

About the Author

Lorna Goodison is an internationally recognized poet who has published eight books of poetry and two collections of short stories. In 1999 she received the Musgrave Gold Medal from Jamaica, and her work has been widely translated and anthologized in major collections of contemporary poetry. Born in Jamaica, Goodison now teaches at the University of Michigan. She divides her time between Ann Arbor and Toronto.

Edition details

• Publisher: Amistad
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0062127357
• ISBN 13: 9780062127358
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 272