Claire of the Sea Light

Claire goes missing the night her father agrees to give her up for adoption. Her mother died when she was born. In the tiny fishing town of Ville Rose, Haiti, she and her father are not the only ones to have experienced loss. As the poor townspeople search by moonlight for the seven-year-old girl, each remembers what death has stolen from their own lives: a forbidden love cut down by slum gangsters; a mother whose rare affluence could not save her child.

In prose that shimmers with folkloric imagery, Danticat intertwines their stories to reveal a deep connection between locals of distinct classes and creeds. Her vision of modern Haiti makes the unknowable familiar; like the townspeople, the reader shares a common humanity - always caught between the darkness and the light.

“'Magnificent ... this is a book that draws its power from its clear-eyed look at both love and decay' Kamila Shamsie, Guardian .”

'A haunting new novel ... Writing with lyrical economy and precision, Ms. Danticat recounts her characters' stories in crystalline prose that underscores the parallels in their lives' New York Times. New York Times
'A jewel - a remarkable book, as luminous as its title' Ann Patchett. Ann Patchett
'Magnificent ... this is a book that draws its power from its clear-eyed look at both love and decay' Kamila Shamsie, Guardian. Guardian

Edwidge Danticat was born and raised in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and the author of several books, including Brother, I'm Dying, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award; Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah Book Club selection; Krik? Krak!, a National Book Award finalist; The Farming of Bones, an American Book Award winner; and The Dew Breaker, winner of the inaugural Story Prize. She lives in Miami with her family.

Claire goes missing the night her father agrees to give her up for adoption. Her mother died when she was born. In the tiny fishing town of Ville Rose, Haiti, she and her father are not the only ones to have experienced loss. As the poor townspeople search by moonlight for the seven-year-old girl, each remembers what death has stolen from their own lives: a forbidden love cut down by slum gangsters; a mother whose rare affluence could not save her child. In prose that shimmers with folkloric imagery, Danticat intertwines their stories to reveal a deep connection between locals of distinct classes and creeds. Her vision of modern Haiti makes the unknowable familiar; like the townspeople, the reader shares a common humanity - always caught between the darkness and the light.

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