A collection of exceptional new essays by one of the most significant contemporary writers on the world stage
Tracing a loose arc from Edwidge Danticats childhood to the COVID-19 pandemic and recent events in Haiti, the essays gathered in Were Alone include personal narrative, reportage, and tributes to mentors and heroes such as Toni Morrison, Paule Marshall, Gabriel García Márquez, and James Baldwin that explore several abiding themes: environmental catastrophe, the traumas of colonialism, motherhood, and the complexities of resilience.
From hurricanes to political violence, from her days as a new student at a Brooklyn elementary school knowing little English to her account of a shooting hoax at a Miami mall, Danticat has an extraordinary ability to move from the personal to the global and back again. Throughout, literature and art prove to be her reliable companions and guides in both tragedies and triumphs.
Danticat is an irresistible presence on the page: full of heart, outrage, humor, clear thinking, and moral questioning, while reminding us of the possibilities of community. And so were alone is both a fearsome admission and an intimate invitationwere alone now, we can talk. Were Alone is a book that asks us to think through some of the worlds intractable problems while deepening our understanding of one of the most significant novelists at work today.
