Enigma of the Return

Windsor Laferriere left Haiti in fear of his life after a fellow journalist was murdered by President Baby Doc's brutal regime. He has lived in Montreal for thirty-three years and now suffers from writer's block. When he hears of the death of his father, he travels to Haiti via New York - where his father had lived as an emigre for half a century - to attend the funeral and then give his mother the news. In Haiti, Windsor is faced with the grim truth of life in his homeland - the endemic poverty and starvation, the thwarted ambitions and broken dreams. But only there can he become a writer again... The Enigma of the Return lives where fiction, poetry and autobiography meet, Laferriere observes his homeland with the eyes of a native outsider. These creative inner tensions sustain a narrative of astonishing beauty, clarity and insight.

"An affecting meditation on loss and exile" ANGEL GURRIA-QUINTANA, Financial Times

Windsor Laferrière left Haiti in fear of his life. He has lived in Montreal for thirty-three years, and when his father dies in New York, himself an exile for half a century, Windsor travels there to attend the funeral, and then back to Haiti to inform his mother of the death.

In Haiti, Windsor is faced with the grim truth of life in his homeland - the endemic poverty, the thwarted ambitions and broken dreams. But only here can he become a writer again . . .

The Enigma of the Return lives where fiction, poetry and autobiography meet. These creative tensions sustain a narrative of astonishing beauty, clarity and insight.

"Looks set to become one of the great poetic statements of homesickness and return . . . It should be read by all exiles everywhere" Ian Thomson, Independent

"A poetic, melancholic tour de force . . . a compelling, intense, stark and poignant exploration of living life as an outsider . . . The great Haitian novel" Jo Lateu, New Internationalist

Autorentext

Dany Laferrière

Zusammenfassung
&quote;An affecting meditation on loss and exile&quote; ANGEL GURRIA-QUINTANA, Financial TimesWindsor Laferri re left Haiti in fear of his life. He has lived in Montreal for thirty-three years, and when his father dies in New York, himself an exile for half a century, Windsor travels there to attend the funeral, and then back to Haiti to inform his mother of the death. In Haiti, Windsor is faced with the grim truth of life in his homeland - the endemic poverty, the thwarted ambitions and broken dreams. But only here can he become a writer again . . .The Enigma of the Return lives where fiction, poetry and autobiography meet. These creative tensions sustain a narrative of astonishing beauty, clarity and insight.&quote;Looks set to become one of the great poetic statements of homesickness and return . . . It should be read by all exiles everywhere&quote; Ian Thomson, Independent&quote;A poetic, melancholic tour de force . . . a compelling, intense, stark and poignant exploration of living life as an outsider . . . The great Haitian novel&quote; Jo Lateu, New Internationalist