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Augustown

UK Publisher: W&N (Orion)

It is 11 April 1982 and a smell is coming down John Golding Road right alongside the boy-child, something attached to him, like a spirit but not quite. Ma Taffy is growing worried. She knows that something is going to happen. Something terrible is going to pour out into the world. But if she can hold it off for just a little bit longer, she will. So she asks a question that surprises herself even as she asks it, ‘Kaia, I ever tell you bout the flying preacherman?’

REVIEWS

Driven by atmosphere more than plot, the language is as clear as spring water ― OBSERVER

Richly nuanced and empathetic . . . a vivid modern fable ― GUARDIAN

Like a wide-angled lens, Miller’s novel fits much into a small frame – Augustown itself, Rastafari, gang and police violence, religious opposition to colonial rule – but still gives an impression of space ― DAILY TELEGRAPH

Truly panoramic ― SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Miller’s storytelling is superb, its power coming from the seamless melding of the magical and the everyday, which gives his novel a significant fabular quality ― SUNDAY TIMES

Kei Miller is a Jamaican poet and novelist. His fourth collection, The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion (Carcanet), won the...