The Coconut Latitudes: Secrets, Storms, and Survival in the Caribbean

by Rita M. Gardner

Overview

Gold Medal Winner, Autobiography/Memoir, 2015 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards. Rita is an infant when her father leaves a successful career in the US to live in “paradise”—a seaside village in the Dominican Republic. The Coconut Latitudes is her haunting, lyrical memoir of surviving a reality far from the envisioned Eden—and of the terrible cost of keeping secrets.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631529016
Publisher:	She Writes Press
Publication date:	09/16/2014
Pages:	204
Sales rank:	660,959
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Rita Gardner grew up on her expatriate family’s coconut farm in the Dominican Republic during the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. Living in a remote coastal village, she was home-schooled and began reading, writing and painting at a young age. She returned to Florida to finish school and later moved to Northern California, where she follows her passions—trail hiking, traveling, writing, and photography. Her published essays, articles, and poems have appeared in literary journals, travel magazines, and newspapers. Her photographs show in galleries and other venues. She continues to dream in Spanish, dance the merengue, and gather inspiration from the ocean; her favorite color is Caribbean blue.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"In this riveting coming-of-age story, Gardner paints an exquisite portrait of her family's rupture in paradise."
- Julia Scheeres, author of Jesus Land and A Thousand Lives

Editorial Reviews

07/28/2014
Their father claims they are in paradise, but shadows fall over Eden for an American family forced to settle in a beautiful but volatile and poverty-stricken Dominican Republic ruled by dictator Rafael Trujillo. In this poignant, jarring memoir and coming-of-age story, Gardner recounts the pain, sacrifices, secrets, and infrequent joys of a dysfunctional family heading towards catastrophe. Throughout, storms serve as rich metaphors for pain, tragedy, and isolation, while natural beauty and family love clash with violent personalities and cruelty. Gardner has written a rich, haunting book that vividly captures her childhood and makes everyday turmoil vital through precise and honest prose.

Publishers Weekly

Gardner has written a rich, haunting book that vividly captures her childhood and makes everyday turmoil vital through precise and honest prose.”
—Publishers Weekly, July 2014

“Another fine writer we can embrace as ours: an honorary Dominicana, who moves beyond borders into the wide open spaces of the heart.”
—Julia Alvarez, author of A Wedding in Haiti, Recipient, 2013 National Medal of Arts

“Gardner’s memoir is a detailed delight. A kind of ‘island-mindedness’ in her writing makes this a compelling read.”
—Alastair Reid, Correspondent for The New Yorker, author of Inside Out

“In this riveting coming-of-age story, Gardner paints an exquisite portrait of her family’s rupture in paradise.”
—Julia Scheeres, author of Jesus Land and A Thousand Lives

From the Publisher