‘[A] captivating memoir … Being introduced to the cast of From Harvey River is like sitting down at the family dining table. You’ll stay for the day and then on into the evening as each new character pulls up a chair. You could not be in better company.’
New York Times Book Review
‘Luminous … Beautiful is the life Goodison evokes from the far-distant past: Jamaica as paradise … This is Goodison’s tribute to her mother, but more than that, it is a window that opens on to a society that most of us will never know.’
Washington Post
‘Goodison makes lyrical exposition sing with dulcet island patois in this homage to her mother … Richly textured … Steeped in local lore and spiced with infectious dialect and ditties, Goodison’s memoir reaches back over generations to evoke the mythic power of childhood, the magnetic tug of home and the friction between desire and duty that gives life its unexpected jolts.’
Publishers Weekly
‘Goodison unveils intimate worlds teeming with all the local flavor and poignancy of a Zora Neale Hurston novel … A tender, thoughtful portrait of four generations, prompting hopes that the author’s first full-length prose work won’t be her last.’
Kirkus Reviews
‘Goodison understands that life struggles are inevitably and inveterately struggles of history as well as struggles of language to memorialize everyday or extraordinary realities and dreams. Goodison’s prose creates memorable characters … and captures them at memorable moments, managing to remain intimate while simultaneously expanding the family history into a mythology of a distinct place and time …’
Globe and Mail
‘Lorna Goodison delivers a memoir so exquisite it stands as an example of the possibilities of the form … A feat of history, imagination and artistic achievement … [It] is a sumptuous montage of landscapes, portraits and anecdotes—sepia-toned period pieces—that impress vividly upon the mind … Goodison’s voice, her tone and choice of language, brilliantly reflects the mingling of African and British culture … to bring the memoir into the tradition of Edwardian letters, and to bring a marginalized time and place into the mainstream of world history.’
Toronto Star