This One Sky Day: LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2022

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In her new novel, fifteen years in the making, the British-Jamaican author Leone Ross offers the reader an imagined island, like Coleridge’s caverns, measureless to man. The novel, taken as whole, is an infectious celebration of life, and especially of love, in all its divergent glories and sorrows, as well as a timely reminder of the perils of judgmentalism and prejudice.

Conversely, people have a vastly different reaction to moth eaters, but the reaction varies according to a person’s station. Ross herself notes in one of her promotional interviews that butterflies are to alcohol as moths are to heroin, and the people of Popisho discriminate accordingly. This book is bursting at the seams with beauty! Magic! Love! Imagination! It is a burst of colour and flame.’ While the novel is fantastical, the character’s struggles and problem-solving ground it in reality, and make the reading experience rich: amusing at times and heart-breaking at others. Kingston … Ross moved to Jamaica when she was six. Photograph: Phil Clarke Hill/In Pictures via Getty Images

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Adult me would never be so scornful. If my pum-pum fell off, I would grab her up immediately, gently wipe her off, and kiss her. I would promise her to find a way to be one again, and until then build a shrine of sorts, somewhere warm. As a woman now who has developed my own relationship with my sexuality and my body, I have undone the brain-washing of my upbringing and culture. I think my pussy is one of the most beautiful, bravest, most powerful and vulnerable things about me. But I do know that that may not be the case for everyone.

The book primarily follows two characters: Xavier Redchoose, the islands’ macaenus or celebrity master chef, and Anise Latibeaudearre, one of Popisho’s healers. Both characters are haunted by love and loss and are struggling to cope with their own public and private traumas. Xavier caves. But, as he begins collecting his ingredients, he tries to think of a way to undermine Intiasar’s plans. He also notices that something might be wrong with Popisho, as the people look more distressed than he remembers. While he plots and fusses, he’s forced to confront several of his darkest secrets while also dealing with people’s reactions to his re-emergence. He also meets a young man named Romanza, one of the islands’ indigents or outcasts, who gives him an idea of how to solve his problems. Little does he know that Romanza has plans for him, too. The best way that I can describe This One Sky Day is that it has the same energy as the phrase “Guyana’s nah a real place” but taken to its most literal and outrageous extremes. This book is not about Guyana, of course. It is set in a fictional archipelago called Popisho, which is heavily influenced by Jamaican and Francophone Caribbean cultures. The islands themselves are magical, and their inhabitants – people, plants, animals and even the dead – express this magic in the most bizarre ways. While magic is critical to the story, the book is more about overcoming personal and societal issues. Throughout the reading, I got the feeling that while the people of Popisho love to laugh at themselves and each other, they are using their laughter and wit to cope with deep-rooted frustrations with the society at large. This book is bursting at the seams with beauty! Magic! Love! Imagination! It is a burst of colour and flame.'Xavier finds himself in an odd position. Intiasar has never asked him for anything before. According to his brother Io, the Governor may only be doing so because elections are coming up, and he wants to put on an elaborate performance for Popisho. Xavier realises that if he rejects Intiasar’s offer, it may be interpreted as pettiness, especially as the government paid for his restaurant and his upkeep. To comply, however, would show a willingness to break his principles and cosy up with the Popisho elite. Either option would bring bad press.