What Start Bad a Mornin’

Now in Paperback! Using interwoven narratives -- present-day United States, Trinidad, and the political tumult of Jamaica in the 1980s -- Carol Mitchell’s debut gives voice to the immigrant woman whose veneer of middle-class stability masks the violent trauma of a prior life.

＂An engaging and life-affirming read.＂ -- Booklist

＂What start bad a mornin’, cyan end good a evenin’.＂ -- Jamaican proverb

Amaya Lin has few memories of the years before she turned eighteen. Now in her forties, she has compensated by carefully cultivating a satisfying life as a wife, mother, and business professional. Her husband’s law practice is on the brink of major success; her neurodiverse son has grown into an independent adult; and she has come to terms with her aunt’s dementia. This sense of order is disrupted, however, when she encounters a stranger who claims to have an impossible connection, launching Amaya on a tumultuous journey into the past.

Using three interwoven narratives spanning the United States, Trinidad, and Jamaica, Carol Mitchell’s debut gives voice to an immigrant woman forced to confront her repressed memories of violent trauma. Only then can she discover what she is capable of when it comes to self-preservation and the protection of her family.

＂This is a stellar debut.＂ -- Cleyvis Natera, author of Neruda on the Park
＂Luminous prose.＂ --Elizabeth Nunez, author of Prospero’s Daughter

Carol Mitchell describes herself (in jest) as being in self-imposed exile from her Caribbean home. She holds an MFA and teaches writing in Virginia. She is also a fellow of the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. Her short stories have appeared in various Caribbean journals and four of them have been long-listed for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. She has written 18 children’s books. What Start Bad a Mornin’ is her debut adult novel.