![]() ![]() Agent: Marie Lamba, Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency. What the story lacks in page-turning momentum, however, is made up for in its vivid evocation of Corinne’s island home. It’s not until Severine appears in Pierre’s cottage, a quarter of the way through the book, that a plot begins to takes shape. But on All Hallows’ Eve, Corinne chases an agouti all the way into the forbidden woods. She knows that jumbies aren’t real they’re just creatures parents make up to frighten their children. Not scorpions, not the boys who tease her, and certainly not jumbies. The storytelling pace is slow and descriptive-Baptiste takes seriously the job of familiarizing readers with what, for many, will be an unfamiliar setting and culture. The first book in the series is The Jumbies. ![]() ![]() Her father, though, is lonely, and gradually falls under the spell of Severine, a jumbie in human disguise, embittered and seeking revenge. It’s a happy household despite their loss, and Corinne’s fearless energy and can-do attitude are celebrated throughout. Eleven-year-old Corinne and her father, Pierre, don’t care they live in a cottage under the forest eaves and tend the richest garden in the village, which is dominated by an orange tree planted by Corinne’s mother before her untimely death. The jumbies are ancient, shape-shifting spirits living amid old-growth mahogany forests, feared and whispered about by humans. Baptiste ( Angel’s Grace) mines Caribbean folklore for her second novel. ![]()
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