Vroege RecensentenJennifer Davis Carey

It is the sharp turn of the twentieth century, and Barbados is an island emptying out, as young men chase their fortunes on the Panama Canal or a merchant’s vessel, and women seek the promise held in passage to the United States. New York is an island swelling with hopeful arrivals keen to make their way on level soil. In the thick of this rush is Dellie Standard, a young emigrant to the city eager to be freed from the cycle of the sugar cane crop and the colonial manor to craft a life of her own, one that is for more than just a piece of someone else’s. Blending history, folk practices, and the richness of another place and time, Near the Hope moves from the exotic and lush world of Barbados to the hazy glow of New York to probe questions of home, family, and what we choose to hold on to and what we choose to let go.