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Start giftingHow the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House
A Novel
Narrator
Danielle Vitalis
This audiobook uses AI narration.
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Length
8 hours 41 minutes
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“I could listen to this narrator on Libro.fm read the dictionary and still be mesmerized. This is an emotional story of multi-generational abuse, suffered from class and race differences, and at the hands of loved ones. It paints an intimate portrayal of all the people on Baxter's Beach, tourists and residents alike. ”
— Amy • Bright Side Bookshop
Bookseller recommendation
“Lala wants more. More than her grandmother’s small house and strict admonishments. More than a hand on her head for her birthday. And certainly more than her grandmother’s tale about the one-armed sister, a tale of what happens to disobedient girls who venture where they shouldn’t. But mostly Lala wants her loving and protective mother who sang her name to her and who was murdered in her home while a very young Lala stood outside. Lala’s story becomes intertwined with the stories of Mira Whalen, the wealthy woman whose husband is murdered; Tone, the surfer gigolo; and her criminal husband Adan. They are stories of poverty, sexual abuse, loss, and pain. As their stories converge, there are harsh revelations for both the characters and the reader, and continuous suspense. This novel of poverty and survival, beautifully narrated, drew me in and often left me horrified at the actions and abuses of its characters. The suspense ebbs and flows but is ever-present, leading to a very effective open-ended conclusion.”
— Nancy • Raven Book Store
Summary
In the tradition of Zadie Smith and Marlon James, a brilliant Caribbean writer delivers a powerful story about four people each desperate to escape their legacy of violence in a so-called "paradise."
In Baxter’s Beach, Barbados, Lala’s grandmother Wilma tells the story of the one-armed sister. It’s a cautionary tale, about what happens to girls who disobey their mothers and go into the Baxter’s Tunnels. When she’s grown, Lala lives on the beach with her husband, Adan, a petty criminal with endless charisma whose thwarted burglary of one of the beach mansions sets off a chain of events with terrible consequences. A gunshot no one was meant to witness. A new mother whose baby is found lifeless on the beach. A woman torn between two worlds and incapacitated by grief. And two men driven into the Tunnels by desperation and greed who attempt a crime that will risk their freedom – and their lives.
How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House is an intimate and visceral portrayal of interconnected lives, across race and class, in a rapidly changing resort town, told by an astonishing new author of literary fiction.