I really enjoyed the language here - the author is from Trinidad and Tobago, a country on the other side of the world from me. I've never been there, but I assume the language is reflective: it's very different than what I'm used to and I enjoy that. I enjoyed the story, too, which was a sort of mash-up of ghosts and magical realism and a very understated romance, as a young man arrives in town, from the country, and takes up a job as gravedigger... a job that, it becomes clear, has criminal undertones which Darwin doesn't want a bar of. Not far from the cemetery lives Yejide, the latest generation of a family of women who are, in a very nebulous way, interactive with, and responsible for, the dead. Neither Darwin nor Yejide are best pleased with the lives that they appear to be stuck with, but they are able to help each other, and the solution is reconciliation to their responsibilities, rather than chucking them all and running away in search of a more appealing life.

The characters are interesting - Darwin a little more than Yejide, who is accused by her longtime companion, Seema, as being something of a whiner (with some justification) - and so is the story, though I do think it drags a little in the middle. That being said, what a fantastic debut! I'll certainly want to read more from this author in the future.