A mythic love story set in Trinidad, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo’s radiant debutis a masterwork of lush imagination and exuberant storytellinga spellbinding and hopeful novel about inheritance, loss, and love’s seismic power to heal.

“Roots the reader in [Trinidads] traditions and rituals [and] … in the glorious matriarchy by which lineage is upheld. The result is a depiction of ordinary life thats full and breathtaking.”TheNew York Times Book Review

In the old house on a hill, where the city meets the rainforest, Yejides mother is dying. She is leaving behind a legacy that now passes to Yejide: one St Bernard woman in every generation has the power to shepherd the citys souls into the afterlife. But after years of suffering her mothers neglect and bitterness, Yejide is looking for a way out.

Raised in the countryside by a devout Rastafarian mother, Darwin has always abided by the religious commandment not to interact with death. He has never been to a funeral, much less seen a dead body. But when the only job he can find is grave digging, he must betray the life his mother built for him in order to provide for them both. Newly shorn of his dreadlocks and his past, and determined to prove himself, Darwin finds himself adrift in a city electric with possibility and danger.

Yejide and Darwin will meet inside the gates of Fidelis, an ancient and sprawling cemetery, where the dead lie uneasy in their graves and a reckoning with fate beckons them both.

304 pages | Hardcover

A mythic love story set in Trinidad,Ayanna Lloyd Banwos radiant debut introducestwo unforgettable outsiders brought together by their connection with the dead.

A searing symphony of magic and loss, love and hope, where in the middle of death, love comes shiny, sparkling and alive. This book might just heal you.Marlon James,New York Timesbestselling author ofBlack Leopard, Red Wolf

In the old house on a hill, where the city meets the rainforest, Yejides mother is dying. She is leaving behind a legacy that now passes to Yejide: one St Bernard woman in every generation has the power to shepherd the citys souls into the afterlife. But after years of suffering her mothers neglect and bitterness, Yejide is looking for a way out.
Raised in the countryside by a devout Rastafarian mother, Darwin has always abided by the religious commandment not to interact with death. He has never been to a funeral, much less seen a dead body. But when the only job he can find is grave digging, he must betray the life his mother built for him in order to provide for them both. Newly shorn of his dreadlocks and his past, and determined to prove himself, Darwin finds himself adrift in a city electric with possibility and danger.
Yejide and Darwin will meet inside the gates of Fidelis, an ancient and sprawling cemetery, where the dead lie uneasy in their graves and a reckoning with fate beckons them both. A masterwork of lush imagination and exuberant storytelling,When We Were Birdsis a spellbinding and hopeful novel about inheritance, loss, and loves seismic power to heal.