Four women spark a revolution on a Caribbean island – the electrifying new novel from the Costa-winning author of The Mermaid of Black Conch.

‘Vital, enraging and brilliant. I loved it’ SARAH WINMAN‘Beautiful and important’ SAFIYA SINCLAIR

Early one morning, at the close of St Colibri’s carnival, a young female steel-pan player is found dead beneath a cannonball tree.

It is a discovery that will transform the lives of everyone on this small island. As the days pass, this shocking event draws together four women. There’s Sharleen, a journalist with an eye for the real story.

Her childhood friend Tara, a pink-haired, straight-talking local activist. Gigi, the ‘notorious’ founder of the Port Isabella Sex Workers Collective. And Daisy, first lady of St Colibri, who is haunted by a disappearance in her own family decades ago.

In a community in which women’s voices are often silenced and violence against them is overlooked time after time, the group soon find themselves compelled to speak out – and to act. But even they could never have foreseen the consequences of their courage…

‘Roffey’s world-building power is evident on every page’GUARDIAN‘Will keep you reading all hours... unforgettable’GLAMOUR‘A vital novel… Fiery, funny and ferociously feminist’DIANA EVANS‘The spirit of carnival itself is in the writing… Electrifying’JASON ALLEN-PAISANT‘Monique Roffey is a trailblazer of Caribbean literature’ BREANNE MC IVORREADERS LOVE PASSIONTIDE‘This was fantastic… five stars’‘Exhilarating… it's a blast, with sharp, smart humour’‘A powerful book… really moving’‘Filled with anger, unity and love’‘What an amazing book this is… This story will stay with me for a very long time’‘Moving and gripping’‘A must-read’‘I loved this book’

Format:Hardback 368 pages

Publisher:Vintage Publishing

Imprint:Harvill Secker

ISBN:9781787303188

Published:27 Jun 2024

Classifications:Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), Fiction: special features