Palmyra
by Karen Barrow

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I used to think the past was dead and gone, that time erased memories … An unexpected visitor to a cocoa estate on the island of Trinidad triggers buried memories of the mysterious deaths that plagued a prosperous French Creole family who once lived there. Now a near ruin, the once “Great House” was where Joe, the housekeeper’s precocious eleven-year-old son, bore witness to half-understood incidents and undercurrents in the lives of its residents. Decades later, his reawakened memories begin with the arrival of a handsome young stranger to the property—a catalyst which sets off a train of tragic events with consequences that reach into the present day. Rich in historical and geographical detail, Palmyra chronicles a time when an educated elite rose from the ashes of slavery and indentureship to challenge the ruling white plantocracy and create an independent nation. A part coming-of-age story, part Gothic mystery, Palmyra conjures a world teeming with divided loyalties, family secrets, and ambition.

www.karenbarrowbooks.com

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Karen Barrow is an award-winning author whose debut novel, Palmyra, won the 2024 Whistler Independent Book Award for Fiction and was a finalist for the Guernica Prize, the Page Turner Awards, and the Eric Hoffer Award. Born in Trinidad, Barrow now lives in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley with her husband. A lifelong traveller, she draws inspiration from the cultures and landscapes she encounters, bringing a vivid sense of place to her fiction. For more information, visit karenbarrowbooks.com.

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