Fiction / African American & Black / Historical > The World So Wide
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The World So Wide
By Zilla Jones
Where to buy
Publish Date
April 26, 2025
Category
Fiction / African American & Black / Women
Price
$24.95
Felicity Alexander is supposed to be charming audiences at New York's Metropolitan Opera, not placed under house arrest in Grenada in October 1983 when the Americans invade.
Born and raised in Winnipeg, the daughter of a Grenadian woman and an absent white father, she is blessed with enviable beauty and an extraordinary singing voice. Arriving in London to study opera in 1965, she finds early success and joy on stage, and a sense of belonging in Claude Buckingham's arms. Members of the West Indian Students Association, Claude and his friends are law students and activists. They plan to return home to Grenada and overthrow the corrupt dictator, “Uncle” Percy Tibbs.
Felicity and Claude’s intense affair cannot survive their competing destinies. Claude brings revolution to Grenada and becomes a Minister in the new Black Pearls of Freedom government; Felicity devotes herself to music, conquering the racism and sexism of the opera world to rise to international stardom. The brighter she shines, the more she struggles to find her place and purpose in life.
Her career in ascendance, Felicity accepts an invitation to perform in Grenada. The red sky of revolution calls to her almost as much as the hope of Claude’s embrace. But their reunion is interrupted by a coup. Surrounded by soldiers and guns, Felicity’s voice is born anew. She has found her cause.
Zilla Jones is an African-Canadian anti-racist educator, lawyer, mother, and singer of Caribbean, Chinese, and European heritage, writing on Treaty 1 territory (Winnipeg). She was born in the UK and now lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is a winner of the Journey Prize, a finalist for The Writers’ Trust Bronwen Wallace Emerging Writers Award, and a finalist for the CBC Short Story Prize. Her writing has appeared in many literary journals includingThe Fiddlehead,Prairie Fire,The Malahat Review, andBayou Magazine.
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