Simple Distance

"Silva's debut documents the myriad ways in which a prickly, unforgiving family can nevertheless ensnare would-be escapees, miring them in repression and dysfunction on a fictional Caribbean island, Baobique . . . Lushly evoked island atmosphere and cadenced language as circuitous as a Pascal family fight make for an impressive first novel." --Kirkus Reviews

When Jean Sousa's uncle, a high ranking politician on the fictional Eastern Caribbean island of Baobique is diagnosed with brain cancer, she goes back to visit him, to say goodbye to the man who convinced her to become a lawyer.

The story shifts between Baobique and San Francisco, Jean's two seemingly irreconcilable worlds. With the death of the family patriarch, a land dispute erupts and Jean finds herself and her lover right in the middle.

Jean--forced to fight for her mother's house, confront her own emotional frailty, and revisit her mother's history of depression--must reconcile difficult family relationships and her place among them.