Cereus Blooms at NightSet on a fictional Caribbean island in the town of Paradise, "Cerus Blooms at Night" unveils the mystery surrounding Mala Ramchandin and the tempestuous history of her family. At the heart of this bold and seductive novel is an alleged crime committed many years before the story opens. Mala is the aging, notoriously crazy woman suspected of murder who is delivered to the paradise Alms House after a judge finds her unfit to stand trial. When she arrives at her new home, frail and mute, she is placed in the tender care of Tyler, a vivacious male nurse, who becomes her unlikely confidant and the storyteller of Mala's extraordinary life. In luminous, sensual prose that "employs myth and magic reminiscent of Isabel Allende" ( "Out" magazine), Mootoo joins diverse storytelling traditions to explore identity, gender, and violence in a celebrationof our capacity to love despite cruelty and despair. |
