book cover of What Storm, What Thunder
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What Storm, What Thunder

(2021)
A novel by

 
 
An Indie Next Pick

A NPR Book of the Day, People and Bustle Book of the Week, and a Best Book of Fall at TIMEWashington Post, BuzzFeed, Vulture, Harper’s Bazaar, Chicago Tribune, and Good Housekeeping

“Stunning.” —Margaret Atwood

“Sublime. A striking and formidable novel by one of our most brilliant writers and storytellers.”  —Edwidge Danticat

At the end of a long, sweltering day, as markets and businesses begin to close for the evening, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude shakes the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. Award-winning author Myriam J. A. Chancy masterfully charts the inner lives of the characters affected by the disaster—Richard, an expat and wealthy water-bottling executive with a secret daughter; the daughter, Anne, an architect who drafts affordable housing structures for a global NGO; a small-time drug trafficker, Leopold, who pines for a beautiful call girl; Sonia and her business partner, Dieudonné, who are followed by a man they believe is the vodou spirit of death; Didier, an emigrant musician who drives a taxi in Boston; Sara, a mother haunted by the ghosts of her children in an IDP camp; her husband, Olivier, an accountant forced to abandon the wife he loves; their son, Jonas, who haunts them both; and Ma Lou, the old woman selling produce in the market who remembers them all. Artfully weaving together these lives, witness is given to the desolation wreaked by nature and by man.

Brilliantly crafted, fiercely imagined, and deeply haunting, What Storm, What Thunder is a singular, stunning record, a reckoning of the heartbreaking trauma of disaster, and—at the same time—an unforgettable testimony to the tenacity of the human spirit.


Genre: Literary Fiction

Praise for this book

"In captivating and lyrical prose, Myriam J. A. Chancy brings the story of the Haiti earthquake to life, highlighting the profound ways our connections are deepened by tragedy. What Storm, What Thunder is a beautiful, haunting chorus of voices. This is a heartbreaking book, a striking achievement." - Zinzi Clemmons

"Myriam Chancy has written a gorgeous and compulsively readable, page-turner in the most haunting and stunning prose. This novel is exactly what we need during this time of uncertainty and crisis. What Storm, What Thunder's characters reveal to us how to bend and not break when facing loss, grief, and displacement. If you love the works of Jesmyn Ward, Edwidge Danticat and J.M Coetzee, this is the book for you! Absolutely breathtaking!" - Angie Cruz

"Sublime. A striking and formidable novel by one of our brilliant writers and storytellers." - Edwidge Danticat

"What Storm, What Thunder refracts the tragic events of the 2010 Haitian earthquake through multiple perspectives and voices. The result is an affecting and immersive--an important--book." - Dan Vyleta


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