Islands Stories

A Scotiabank Giller Prize Finalist
Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
Longlisted for the 2023 New American Voices Award
Hurston Wright Legacy Award Nominee
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

Powerful stories that explore the legacy of colonialism, and issues of race, immigration, sexual discrimination, and class in the lives of Jamaican women across London, Panama, France, Jamaica, Florida and more

Shortlisted for the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize
Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
A Hurston Wright Legacy Award Nominee
Longlisted for the 2023 New American Voices Award
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

Powerful stories that explore the legacy of colonialism, and issues of race,immigration, sexual discrimination, and class in the lives of Jamaicanwomen across London, Panama, France, Jamaica, Florida and more

The Islands follows the lives of Jamaican women-immigrants or the descendants of immigrants-who have relocated all over the world to escape the ghosts of colonialism on what they call the Island. Set in the United States, Jamaica, and Europe, these international stories examine the lives of anuncertain and unsettled cast of characters. In one story, a woman and herhusband impulsively leave San Francisco and move to Florida with wild dreamsof American reinvention only to unearth the cracks in their marriage.In another, the only Jamaican mother-who is also a touring comedienne-at aprep school feels pressure to volunteer in the school's International Day.Meanwhile, in a third story, a travel writer finally connects with the mother who once abandoned her.

Set in locations and times ranging from 1950s London to 1960s Panama tomodern-day New Jersey, Dionne Irving reveals the intricacies of immigration and assimilation in this debut, establishing a new and unforgettable voice inCaribbean-American literature. Restless, displaced, and disconnected, thesecharacters try to ground themselves-to grow where they find themselvesplanted-in a world in which the tension between what's said and unsaid canbend the soul.