Archipelago

Monique Roffey is a dynamic new voice in Caribbean literature and her third novel, ARCHIPELAGO (A Penguin Paperback Original; On-sale May 28, 2013; 978-0-14-312256-2; $16.00), is a profound and beautiful tale of the sea. After a devastating disaster, a father and his young daughter take off on a boat for a life-changing—and affirming—adventure. ARCHIPELAGO is a book about loss, escape, and discovering a new way to define normal.

Gavin Weald’s life was going pretty well. He was third from the top at his company. He had a wife he loved, two beautiful children, and a comfortable home. Then the flood came. A wall of brown water swept away his home and ripped his family apart. A year later, he returns to his rebuilt house, determined to start again. The problem is, nothing is the same. The rainy season deluges provoke nightmares and screaming fits from his six-year-old daughter Océan. Overcome by hopelessness, Gavin impulsively decides that he and his daughter (and their dog, Suzy) will embark on a sea voyage aboard his sloop, Romany. As they sail through the archipelagos of the Caribbean Sea, they begin to make peace with the waters, and their changed lives.

ARCHIPELAGO has its roots in real life events. In 2008, Roffey’s brother’s home in Trinidad was destroyed in a flood. Those floods, brought on by climate change, made Roffey realize that our lives are built on fragile structures—the job and home that seem stable one day can be torn down quite easily. This novel is a response to the realities of climate change, and a call to live more flexibly and creatively, understanding that we live in a rapidly changing world. Hurricane Sandy brought this lesson home to families on the East Coast of the United States in 2012. As natural disasters become more severe, Roffey’s tale reveals a new definition of a successful life.

“This is a love of a writer; read her.”

—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal

Praise for The White Woman on the Green Bicycle

v Short-listed for the 2010 Orange Prize for Fiction

“. . . this is a stunning book, and its depiction of an aspect of Caribbean life is well worth contemplating.”

—The Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Deservedly a finalist for the Orange Prize; Roffey is a fantastic talent who, one hopes, will keep writing for years to come.”

—Library Journal, (starred review)

“a rich . . . evocative exploration of life in a tropical paradise rife with conflict.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Few novels capture the postcolonial culture with such searing honesty as this Caribbean story.”

—Booklist

“Through the Harwoods' turbulent marriage, Roffey explores the harsh legacy of slavery and colonialism, along with the disappointments and corruption that follow.”

—Associated Press