The word that comes to mind when exploring the pages of Cherie Jones’s How The One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House is visceral. Set in Barbados and featuring characters from all walks of life–tourists, thieves, criminals, con-artists, prostitutes, doting parents, fearful children, humbled doctors–the novel transports readers to the world of Baxter Beach. In the novel, Baxter’s Beach, labeled as ‘Paradise’ by locals and tourists alike, reveals itself as the opposite. Three generations of women’s stories are told in the novel, and with each layer something is added that negates this beach town in Barbados as a paradise. The women whose stories are most focused on in the story are Mrs. Whalen—the islander wife of an English tourist—Wilma, Lala, and Lala’s deceased mother. Be forewarned, this novel is very much Rated R, and some trigger warnings include: rape, death of a minor, rape of a minor, assault, murder, and more. However, Jones should be complimented for the way she approaches such dark and unsettling topics. She treats these issues pragmatically, adding the details of these topics in a manner that sheds light on the story, rather than for shock-value. 

Generational trauma is a central theme in Jones’s writing, primarily through the relationships between Lala and the women in her family. The novel begins with Wilma, Lala’s grandmother and guardian, telling her the story of the one-armed sister. The story becomes the key to the novel—Jones takes bits and pieces of the story’s characters to enhance her novel’s plot. Another theme that runs throughout the novel and directly engages with the theme of generational trauma is oppression: the oppression of people of colour, class oppression, women’s oppression, and the oppression of those with mental health problems. Jones uses the parallels between Wilma’s life and Lala’s to demonstrate how this oppression is ongoing and has entangled the families of Baxter Beach in it’s unkind grasp. Despite the sensational nature of the novel’s events, Jones’s honest and well-balanced writing and diction creates a deep and pensive story. 

Jone’s storytelling abilities are most evident in her characterization. Whether it’s Lala and her husband’s, Adan, estranged marriage or Mrs. Whalen’s grief and PTSD, every characterization is expressed in a simple, poetic narrative that neither feels too little or too much. Take this exchange early in the novel, and appreciate the subtleness in Jones’s description of Lala and Adan’s relationship: “When they play this game, what Adan does is try to sing her. He tries every type of lala he can think of: soft percussive notes that stretch his throat and deeply resonant bass notes that vibrate when she touches him and barely audible sharps that hurt her ears.” Jones captures both the tenderness and tension of this difficult relationship and it’s her ability to balance darkness with softness that makes her traumatic and deeply aching debut novel such a satisfying read.

The One-Armed Sister has something for every audience. The novel is sometimes exhilaratingly quick paced, and other times it is a slow paced emotional onslaught. The character focused story-telling keeps readers invested in all of the different twists and turns. Romance, racial inequality, class differences, nostalgia, folk-tales, coming of age, motherhood, and widow-hood, are some of the themes that this novel is artfully entangled with. However, the novel closes out with a message of hope and freedom, one which creates a satisfying and realistic closure.

If you are looking for a story full of heart, blood, sweat and tears, Cherie Jones delivers exactly that, with fantastic story-telling and characterization that is sure to make How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House a recognized piece of new literature.