By Love Possessed: Stories

“A beautifully written and evocative book.”
—Danielle Evans, author of Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, winner of the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize

“Written by the hand of a poet, the prose in this collection is consistently beautiful.”
—Elizabeth Nunez, author of Prospero’s Daughter and Boundaries

“I love the tender beautiful writing; I love the characters, and in many ways it felt as if I had met them before….I just love this book.”
—Uwem Akpan, author of Say You’re One of Them, an Oprah Book Club selection

Internationally renowned and award-winning poet Lorna Goodison brings us By Love Possessed, her long-anticipated collection of short fiction. Making dazzling use of the Creole patois of Jamaica, Goodison limns the beauty and despair of the human condition and explores the unique power of love to both uplift and destroy. Goodison’s powerfully moving stories explore the pain, the struggle, and the triumph of Jamaicans—particularly women—those still living on their Caribbean island and those who have emigrated elsewhere. By Love Possessed is a rare and beautiful gift from an extraordinary writer who was mentored by the legendary Derek Walcott and who stands with Edwidge Danticat as a brave and breathtaking voice in contemporary literature.