The Island of Forgetting

‘Inventive, excellent … a pure pleasure to read’ THE TIMES

In this compelling debut, an unknowable legacy passes through generations of one family living on the beautiful island of Barbados.

In this compelling debut, an unknowable legacy passes through generations of one family living on the beautiful island of Barbados.

There is Iapetus, a lonely soul haunted by the memory of his father; his son Atlas, dreaming of a life far removed from his reality; Atlas’s daughter Calypso, struggling to find her place in an unforgiving society; and her son Nautilus, grappling with various parts of a complex identity.

Each longs to escape their circumstances but find themselves trapped by a history found only in whispers and half-remembered fragments. And with every passing decade, another generation must contend with the same question: how can the things we don’t know define our futures?

Spanning fifty years, The Island of Forgetting is a powerful saga of family and hope that marks the arrival of a stunning new voice in literary fiction.

THE TIMES FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH