In her tender, lyrical debut collection, Layaway Child, Chanel Sutherland explores the inner landscapes of Caribbean women who immigrate to Canada from their island homes, often leaving behind their children. Through a series of linked stories, Sutherland probes the complexities of motherhood from a distance, the dubious benefits of building a new life, and the complications of living between two worlds--for mothers and daughters alike.
In "My Mother's Hands Are Silver," a daughter admires and pities the streaks on her mother's skin. She remembers her mother taking her to art galleries, giving her a library card, urging her to pursue her education. In a sense, all of Sutherland's mothers do the same: sacrifice their own dreams, hide their longings to give their children a chance at success. For the daughters, the stakes are different but no less high. In "With Friends Like These," immigrant daughter Shelly finds an unexpected connection when she meets her white friend's housekeeper. As they share a glass of malt and a conversation, Shelly gains a glimmer of insight into her mother's life and makes a choice about how to live her own.
Sutherland draws a sharp contrast between the island of St. Vincent--lush and vibrantly warm, crowded with bodies and ripe fruit and memories--and Montreal-- sterile, impersonal, "a city with teeth." Her characters must learn to make lives for themselves in Montreal's unfamiliar landscape, dealing with homesickness and racism while holding onto their bonds of family and identity. Powerful and moving, Layaway Child is a sensitive evocation of lives shaped by immigration, separation, and the tenacious love of mothers for their children. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams