By Caitlin Richards
Winter reading is the perfect companion for Caribbean sailors at anchor, offering calm before or after a day of adventure. Here are some good works that add to this special joy, while also offering a lasting treasure. The right book makes the sailing experience even more memorable. Choose from these top picks.
The House of Plain Truth, Donna Hemans, Zibby Books, NY, United States, 2024, 269 pages
“Pearline knows well the uncertainty of an elder’s memory.” So starts The House of Plain Truth. Pearline has left her home in Brooklyn to return to Jamaica to attend her dying father. Each morning, she asks him to tell her the names of his children, each morning he ignores her. Then one morning he complies, with the exhortation “Find them for me. You are my memory now.” So begins Pearline’s journey, against the wishes of her two sisters, to find her long-lost siblings who were left behind when the family left Cuba when she was a young girl.
Through alternating timelines and perspectives, Hemans paints a rich, multi-layered portrait of family trauma and healing. Themes of displacement, identity, and the impact of immigration on familial ties highlight the emotional costs of seeking a better life in another country, and what happens to those left behind. Hemans’s prose is evocative and lyrical, bringing to life the vibrant culture and landscape of Jamaica, while also conveying the emotional weight carried by each character. The novel’s exploration of what is left unsaid within families, and the struggle to find one’s voice, is both heartbreaking and deeply resonant. This tale is for someone who loves novels steeped in history.
When Life Gives You Mangos, Kereen Getten, Delacorte Press, NY, United States, 2020, 189 pages
This young adult novel is part coming-of-age story and part mystery. 12-year-old Clara is struggling with being abandoned by her best friend, Gaynah, who has turned into a mean girl. She is creating a new friendship with Rudy, a new girl in her village, and she is struggling with the loss of her memory from the previous summer. As Clara navigates friendships and family secrets, she gradually uncovers the lost memories. Getten masterfully captures the essence of childhood, community, and the complexities of emotions. With evocative prose and a strong sense of place, this novel is a tender exploration of healing, self-discovery, and growing up. Any teenage girl or woman who once was a teenage girl struggling to find out who she is will relate to this story.
Village Weavers, Myriam JA Chancy, Tin House, Portland, United States, 2024, 333 pages
Alternating between Port-au-Prince in the 1940s and Phoenix, Arizona, in the present day, Village Weavers follows Sisi as a young girl and as an old woman. This is another novel about family, friendships, and secrets, and how relationships we form as children can impact our whole lives. It is also a story about politics, race, and sexuality and Chancy doesn’t shy away from these themes, though Sisi isn’t always as brave. It starts with Sisi’s grandmother, Momo, telling her stories as they sort beans. “Do you want to know more?” Momo asks Sisi. The answer, of course, for Sisi and the reader, is yes. A reader over the age of 45 will feel all its nuances.
Passages: Cape Horn and Beyond, Lin Pardey, Paradise Cay Publications, Bluelake, California, United States, 2025, 277 pages
“Writing is magical…The words are free, just waiting there for you to grab as many as you like,” says Pardey at the start of Passages. She starts and finishes her narrative with David, her new partner, but the meat of the book recalls her travels with Larry, with whom she sailed, wrote, refurbished boats, and adventured for 47 years. Pardey recounts how she got started with the sailing life and never looked back, about friends met along the way, and, heartbreakingly, about Larry aging and his dementia, which dramatically changed her course, and her rebirth with David and new adventures. The words may be free but figuring out which words to use and how to use them takes a special skill. Pardey has that in abundance. Anyone who loves adventure or has ever longed for a life at sea will love this.
Islas, A Celebration of Tropical Cooking, Von Diaz, Chronicle Books LLC, San Francisco, CA, United States, 2023, 297 pages
I love cookbooks. I especially love cookbooks with luscious pictures and stories about the recipes; Islas does not disappoint. Diaz has put together “125 Recipes from the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Ocean Islands” each boasting fresh, local ingredients, information about the regions, and profiles of people from each region who supplied recipes. The photos will make you drool. From simple to complex there is something here for every level of cook.
Anyone who loves to cook or eat will gobble this up.
Our Ocean’s Broken Heart, Doina Cornell, Cornell Sailing, Brockworth, U.K., 2024, 269 pages
Our Ocean’s Broken Heart is an evocative memoir, reflecting on the environmental and personal impacts of climate change and ocean degradation. As part of the Blue Planet Odyssey, a global sailing event created by her renowned voyager father, Jimmy Cornell, to raise awareness about these issues, Cornell recounts two journeys — through the Northwest Passage with her daughter and a southern route with her son. While the prose can be overblown at times, excerpts from her daughter Nera’s log provide refreshing, next-generation perspectives. The northern voyage’s reliance on diesel engines raises questions about the contradictions in their mission, which Cornell herself acknowledges. “We cannot make one step in this world without ourselves contributing to the mess.”
Gift it to your environmentally conscious sailing friends.
