I read an ARC of the Restless so my thoughts may not reflect the final proof of the book. Gerty Danbury creates a book in four parts reflecting a Creole quadrille. The POV switches between the living and the dead, the young and the old, the rich and the poor in Guadeloupe. Most of the POV is seen through nine-year-old Emilienne Absalon. Her child-like view of the world leading up to the violent days of May 1967. Teachers leaving, fathers not coming home, and other disruptions to a child's world. The story unfolded wonderfully, I know next to nothing about Guadeloupe's history so experiencing some of the more modern history was wonderful.

The creole throughout the text was most interesting, I enjoyed it a lot. The narrative was hard to follow at times, it bounced from first person to second to third but the writing was easy to read. The chapters flipped from person to person like a call-and-response in the quadrille The narrative reminded me of These Ghosts Are Family. I wonder about the differences between the original and the translated version I have. The Restless is a short book that shows the unrest from a child's and adult's perspectives. The book was so readable I think I need to slow down to digest some of it again. It's not media to be consumed, it's to be savoured.