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"The novel avoids the maudlin of some coming-of-age stories, and the magnetic descriptions of the father-and-son conversations and encounters and the Jamaican landscape add to the narrative....Like Marcus J. Guillory's Red, Now, and Laters, this book will appeal to lovers of Caribbean fiction, but all readers of relationship novels are sure to enjoy."--Library Journal, Starred reviewShortlisted for the Una Marson Award for Adult Literature, part of Jamaica's Lignum Vitae Awards"Ellis writes with an easy grace, and his novel should find favor with readers who are interested in exploring world fiction."--BOOKLIST "A fast-paced story of father and son, packed with misadventures and set against the backdrop of contemporary Jamaica....Ellis sets his story in 2008 Jamaica, where "old people are burnt in their homes for no reason at all; stubborn old men are slaughtered by gunmen"--where "it is so easy to get away with murder." This milieu adds a great deal of tension....Well-constructed....Admirable."--Kirkus Reviews"The Angels' Share is storytelling at its best....Imaginative and insightful, The Angels' Share beckons us to look deeper, beyond the personas and the camouflage lives we construct."--Jamaica Gleaner"It takes a lot to stand out in the crowded field of Caribbean lit, but Garfield Ellis grabs mystery, family, love, hate, longing, and loss, boils them down to a Jamaica we don't always see, and rises to the top."--Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings"The Angels' Share is Garfield Ellis's passport to the center of the literary world. Ellis is a writer of tremendous talent with that rare quality that can only be called bigness."--Colin Channer, author of The Girl with the Golden Shoes"Ellis inhabits his story of a lost-and-found father and a host of engaging characters and breathtaking incidents with skill, humor, and honesty. A page-turning read."--Olive Senior, author of Dancing Lessons"Ellis's compelling novel joins the literature of the Caribbean to bring an exciting new view of our outer and subterranean landscapes whose ghosts are not victims, and whose survivors join a legacy of heroes."--Rachel Manley, author of In My Father's ShadeEverton Dorril, a rising star at a Jamaican beverage company, immediately fears the worst when his stepmother calls one morning to tell him his father is missing. Everton soon discovers that his father has run off to track down a woman he has been in love with for thirty-five years. An "outside" child born to his father's mistress, Everton deeply resents his father and hates the idea of jeopardizing the most important moment in his career to go find him, but feels he has no other choice.His father's stubborn refusal to return home leads Everton to reluctantly give up a week of work--one week only--to join him on his quest. By the fourth day, Everton is fed up with his father's lies and excuses. In spite of his better judgment, and worried his father might be dying, Everton finally confronts him one drunken night and airs his resentments. He discovers that his father, frightened and unhappy with the failings of his past, is seeking closure and reconciliation. Fearing this is his last chance to find out more about the father who had no time for him when he was growing up, Everton and his father set out on an adventurous quest across Jamaica, hoping to make up for lost time.
About the Author
Garfield Ellis grew up in Jamaica, the eldest of nine children. He studied marine engineering, management and public relations in Jamaica and in a varied career worked as a marine engineering officer on board ships, as engineering supervisor, and placement director of the Jamaica Maritime Institute. He completed his Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Miami, on full scholarship as a James Michener Fellow.
He is a two-time winner of the Una Marson prize for adult literature; in the first instance for his first collection of short stories, Flaming Hearts (pub. 1997) , and later for the manuscript of his novel, Till I'm Laid To Rest. He has twice won the Canute A. Brodhurst prize for fiction (The Caribbean Writer, University of Virgin Islands) 2000 & 2005 and the 1990 Heinemann/Lifestyle short story competition.
Garfield is the author of five published books: Flaming Hearts, Wake Rasta, Such As I Have, For Nothing at All and Till I'm Laid To Rest which has just been released in June 2010. His work has appeared in several international journals, including; Callaloo, Calabash, the Caribbean writer, Obsidian III and Small Axe.
