The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts

January 9, 2023
Palmer weaves folktales and magical realism in her moving debut, about a splintered Brooklyn family. Beatrice, a proud but troubled mother originally from Trinidad, raises daughters Sasha and Zora with her Jamaican husband, Nigel, in the late 1990s. West African fables play an important role in shaping the family’s relationships and understanding of their culture. Beatrice gives Zora a book called The Anansi Stories for a school writing project, and teenaged Sasha helps Zora understand the tales and myths. As Nigel and Beatrice’s relationship falls apart, a pregnant Beatrice develops debilitating headaches, Nigel falls in love with a German woman, and Sasha discovers she’s not interested in boys and might prefer to appear masculine. Zora, meanwhile, dreams of becoming a writer. The more the two sisters explore their identities, the more they grow apart, and after Beatrice dies from cancer, they’re haunted by her ghost. Palmer brings whimsy to her portrayal of the family even in painful moments—such as when Beatrice tells the girls fables to cheer them up—and nuance to the evolving attitudes of the Black American and Caribbean people in Sasha’s orbit toward her exploration of sexuality and gender identity. This will stick with readers. Agent: Laura Usselman, Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency.

Starred review from June 1, 2024

This imaginative take on the "Anansi the Spider" stories traverses worlds both real and imagined, from 1990s Brooklyn to the realms of West African and Caribbean folklore. Palmer's magical debut places listeners in the middle of a fractured, ever-shifting Jamaican and Trinidadian family. Sisters Sasha and Zora are growing up and apart as Sasha explores her gender identity and sexuality, and Zora escapes into her writing while their parents' marriage falls apart. Their mother returns to Trinidad to seek folk cures for the masses growing in her brain and spreading throughout her body, and their father begins a new family, all while Anansi turns from demigod to spider, and Mama Dglo protects her watery home from polluters and poachers. Voice-over artist Jaimi Gray narrates this novel as if she has done it all her life, with a Caribbean patois that belies her Virginia roots. The rhythmic, vibrant performance adds such texture to the story that print readers will be at a distinct disadvantage. VERDICT Palmer's debut features stories within stories, interweaving folklore, family, history, and memory, are set in a world where magic is never far off. A must-listen and an essential purchase everywhere.--Laura Trombley

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