Wow! Having absolutely loved The Mermaid of Black Conch, I was really looking forward to this one and it certainly didn’t disappoint! I also read this whilst in the Caribbean so it was the perfect place to read it. A powerful story about the reactions of the island women to yet another meaningless, cruel killing of a young Japanese pan player, as they unite against the misogyny that is prevalent throughout the Caribbean. I loved the diverse cast of women and how they came together. They came to life on the page as did the island, through Monique’s superb writing. An amazing story that I will be recommending to everyone.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for a review.

A bit too “issue” and “moral” lead for me. I get it misogyny and colonialism are bad and I know it is based on a murder in Trinidad but too heavily handed for me.

I found the language difficult and it distracted from the flow of the book for me.

Am clearly an outlier here as others seem to love it. Chalk it up to not being the book for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Having loved this authors previous novel ‘The Mermaid of Black Conch’ so much I couldn’t wait to read this novel. All I can say is WOW , I loved this novel and certainly wasn’t disappointed in any way. An important novel which covers a difficult topic it should be required reading. On a Caribbean island a woman is found murdered and this crime will have far reaching consequences for many of the islands inhabitants. With a history of femicide and violence towards women on the island being ignored or overlooked this is the catalyst that brings the four main characters together to organise a peaceful protest in an attempt to bring about change.Despite the dark nature of the subject the book has a lot of hope and love. The characters are brilliantly drawn and pull you into both the best and worse aspects of their lives. The full vibrancy of the people and the island bursts out of the pages - the sights and sounds; the music and the food. A real page turner dealing with real issues and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Bravo Monique Roffey. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this novel in return for an honest review.

I enjoyed the setting, the details about life on St Colibri and the office politics of the criminal justice system. However, the storytelling was very repetitive. Each time a character is introduced, the same information about the murder is repeated to them. While realistic, this is not interesting. The political message also feels heavy-handed. Lovely writing but overall I felt underwhelmed and thought wistfully of how a good crime writer would have injected pace and momentum into the same material.

3,5

Mostly positive but also more mixed feelings about this novel that follows the rise of a women-led occupy movement on a Caribbean island.

On the positive side:

- It covers the very important and in most countries underexposed topic of violence against women and femicide.

- It reads very well, there is good humour too , I had a good time.

- There are some unforgettable characters

But:

- The political message is laid on very thickly for my taste. It is more of a pamphlet, but then a very long one. Although inspired by true events in Trinidad, I believe the book also/mainly wants to be a call to action for women of different backgrounds to come together and get organized to push the issue higher on the political agenda.

- There are many repetitions, especially the constant reminder of the importance of social media (we know...).

- I found it lacked some depth or development - it basically all went in the same direction from about 10% in, with some minor improvement in the closing pages.

It's very different from the brilliant Mermaid of Black Conch (although the island of Black Conch is briefly referred in Passiontide) - this is less a fairytale and more straightforward.

This is the second book I have read by Monique Roffey - I loved The Mermaid of Black Conch so was really excited to read this one. Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for my free ecopy.
The book is set on the Caribbean island of Port Isabella where after carnival a woman is found dead. It is a Japanese woman Sora who played the steel pan. The story follows a group of women including Sharleen, Tara and Gigi who decide there have been too many women murdered in the Caribbean and between them decide to protest and gradually get more and more women including head of states and the Prime Ministers wife behind them. The book discusses feminism , femicide, misogyny and women and how they are treated very well and what if we all come together can be achieved and done to try and prevent this in the future. I liked the characters and harsh topics discussed and will be recommending this book to others as well as looking out for more new titles from the author in the future

I didn’t know what this book was about, I just knew that I had to read it! I absolutely love ‘The Mermaid of Black Conch,’ and was ecstatic to see a new book from Monique Roffey. I have established that I will definitely be reading more from this author!

This book is incredibly moving and powerful. It is heartbreaking to know that it’s inspired by some true facts. The story is based around women fighting for their rights on a Caribbean island, wanting the changes that are rightfully theirs.

I love how the narrators change throughout the book and it shares so fluidly the different characters experiences, combining them in such a symbiotic way.

It’s filled with such tragic outcomes and patterns that continued to replay generation after generation and women are standing up to say no more!

I didn’t want to put this book down, I couldn’t stop thinking about it and it will be one that I continue to remember. It’s definitely a ‘worthy read.’ I give this book 4.25 stars.

Thanks very much to NetGalley and all involved in allowing me an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

Monique Roffey’s previous novel “The Mermaid of Black Conch” was on the surface an unusual love story (drawing on the mermaid myths of the Neo-Taino people) set on the titular Caribbean Island (a fictionalised version of Tobago) but which also explored many of the themes and ideas that inform both Roffey’s other writing (female sexuality, pre-Christian legends – particularly foundational myths about womanhood, Caribbean history on a multi-century scale, colonialism, creolisation, fatherhood, outsiders) and her wider activism (particularly her XR involvement).

And its wide ranging themes were shown in its range of prize nominations: longlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize (for books “invoking the spirit of a place”) and the Orwell Prize (for Political Fiction); shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize (for innovative, creatively challenging books risk-takingly published by small presses), the Goldsmith Prize (for fiction that breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form), the OCM Bocas Prize (for Caribbean Literature), the prestigious and author-judged Folio Prize and perhaps surprisingly but welcomely winner of the Novel Award and Overall category from the penultimate year of the Costa Prize (aimed at books you would want to press in another reader’s hands).

This novel is set on the Caribbean Island of St Colibri, sister Island to Black Conch (which has a cameo role in this novel) and therefore I think best though of as a fictionalised version of Trinidad and it was indeed inspired by a real life event there as the author explains in an Afterword: “February 2016, on Ash Wednesday, the body of steel pan player Asami Nagakiya was found dead under a cannonball tree in Port of Spain, Trinidad. This novel is a re-imagining of some of the events afterwards. Caribbean women predated using the hashtag to mobilise women in a grassroots way before the global #metoo movement in 2017. #Lifeinleggings started in Barbados in 2016 and became an NGO; the #LeaveSheAlone campaign happened in 2017, in Trinidad, in the wake of the Nagakiya murder.”

Here, the victim is Sora Tanaka (a Japanese pan player), and the body opens in her voice shortly after her murder – her body found under a famous cannonball tree in the capital Port Isabella – on the last day of the carnival (which takes place before the start of Lent – the book’s title is the name for the last two weeks of Lent over which muich of its other action is set). The murder investigation is lead, with limited enthusiasm, by Inspector Loveday the Chief of Omwen (the ineffectual Office for Murdered Women) with the help of a British born pathologist Inspector Loveday but the lack of progress in what is yet another femicide quickly draws in a disparate group of individuals motivated only by their desire for justice including: Tara Kissoon (a feminist activist), Giga Lala (who runs the local Sex Workers Collective), Sharleen Sellier (an experienced journalist for who this is one murder too many), the female leader of the opposition and eventually Daisy Solomon (wife of Prime Minister Errol and whose own sister went missing assumed murdered many years ago).

Around them they draw an even more disparate group including practitioners of local matriarchal religions, Gigi’s workers and many more – and increasingly they use a variety of tactics (viral social media posts and hashtags, Occupy movement inspired camps, a sex strike which starts with Gigi’s workers and then extends across the Island) to turn into a inter-sectional movement which spreads internationally to support their demands: "1. A formal public apology to Japan 2. A full review of OMWEN and the immediate sacking of Inspector Cuthbert Loveday 3. Loveday to be replaced by a woman 4. Gender sensitivity training for all politicians, the police and public figures 5. Neighbourhood Watch groups set up 6. Tougher legislation on domestic violence and sentencing of those charged 7. Femicide to be made a hate crime as well as murder"

At the same time though they face the increasingly strong opposition of the Prime Minister (who even places his wife under house arrest), the police and the more patriarchal Western religious institutions (such as the Catholic Church).

All of this is told in a multi point of view novel which also has occasional brief sections written by the now dead Sora as well as in time her murderer (whose likely identity gradually becomes clear both to Forrester – who suspended from his job decides to investigate unofficially – and the reader) – although note that this is not a crime novel in any way but a polemical critique of colonialism, patriarchy and sexism (and their mutual reinforcement) and slightly idealistic celebration of the possibilities and power of intersectional activism.

Overall this novel is perhaps a more conventional than its predecessor but also more powerful and might I think succeed in at least a longlisting for the two heavyweight prizes which did not recognise Mermaid – the Booker (in 2024) and the Women’s Prize (in 2025).

I love Monique Roffey’s writing, from the first page I was drawn into lives of the St Colibri women. A steel pan player from Japan is found murdered and it transform the lives of so many on the island. The women are courageous and the subject is so important, I felt angry whilst reading about the injustices knowing it happens regularly on a daily basis. And that ending!!! A easy five star read.

I just know that this book is going to be perfect for the right audience. If you are a fan of literary fiction that tackles important themes and the blurb of this book intrigues you, then I would highly recommend it. Sadly, I personally found myself having to DNF this one at around 40%. I found myself not wanting to pick it up to finish it, so I decided to call it and focus on some of my other e-ARCs instead. There is nothing inherently wrong with the book and I would still recommend those who are interested to give it a read. Monique's writing is absolutely stunning and incredibly immersive, which was the main reason I requested this ARC, having loved the use of language, dialect, and tone in her previous book. If you loved "The Mermaid of Black Conch," I am certain you will love this one too!

One reason I DNF'd was due to the fact that I found the build-up to the main plot a lot slower than I was expecting, based on my experience of Monique's previous book. Upon reflection, this does fit the tone of the book due to the importance of background being provided in depth in what is categorised as literary fiction, which is sadly a very hit-or-miss genre for me. My main gripe with this book was the amount of time we spent with the white doctor. Whilst I understand that this character was likely incorporated to draw stronger parallels between colonisation and white supremacy and the main themes of social justice and activism, I found myself becoming increasingly irritated by Forrester and craving to hear more from the other characters.

I strongly believe that this book will find its audience and will likely be in line for literary prizes, but sadly it was just not for me.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC. All opinions are my own.

I really loved Mermaid of Black Conch, and was interested to see where Ms Roffey's writing would take her next.
Understandably, given the theme, this is a tough book to read and has the reader really rooting for the "feminists" and sharing their anger, and shock at the ending. Also to read the author's note on the incident that encouraged her to write the book.
Sadly this isnt the first book I've read about femicide and wont be the last Im sure, and if I have a negative comment I did find it slightly too long particularly in the middle and, for me, it lost a bit of momentum. Looking forward to the next book by this author.
Thank you to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book

Passiontide is set on the fictional Caribbean island of St. Colibri, where a young woman is murdered during carnival. Whilst the story is fictional, it is inspired by real events and movements, such as the #lifeinleggings and #leaveshealone campaigns that tackle gender based violence and the sexual harassment of women.
It is a must-read for those who appreciate literary fiction, especially those that enjoy books that tackle important social issues.

'Passiontide' is set on a fictional Caribbean island, St Colibri, where a young woman is murdered on the night of carnival. She's just one of many women killed every year in St Colibri and all over the world, simply for being female. There doesn't seem much hope of catching the killer - the policeman in charge of the case is corrupt and lazy, and the local politicians more interesting in criticising the victim for what she was wearing. A small group of women decide the time has come to speak up, and their small protest soon takes on a life of its own. But is the murderer still lying in wait for his next victim?

I found the book a bit hard to get into at first. The writing style shifts about a bit and I didn't know all of the Caribbean English words, and it has the annoying habit of switching between point of view characters and settings without indicating any sort of break. But once the protest got started, I found myself swept up in the narrative and used to the style. It's a compelling story, very loosely based on a true one, and is about an issue that affects every country in the world. I can call to mind immediately numerous recent cases of femicide in my own country and elsewhere in the world, and that's just the small number we hear about. Violence against women is everywhere, affecting all areas of society. As are the bemused, dismissive and even derogatory responses of the men that we see in this novel. When the police arrived at the protest camp in the book, I was reminded of the police who arrested women at a peaceful vigil in London for a young woman murdered by a policeman. And no matter how crass the comments made by some of the characters, you can see and hear worse examples from real life. The US presidential candidate who was heard talking about 'grabbing' women, and still got elected. The man who decided to kiss a member of the world cup winning football team against her wishes in front of the world media. This novel is no satire, there's no exaggeration here.

As well as finding the plot moving and gripping, I liked the characters once I got to know them. There are multiple viewpoint characters, including some male ones. The temptation must have been there to make the men villainous and unsympathetic, but Roffey actually creates her most complex and interesting characters in Loveday the policeman and Errol the prime minister. The problem isn't that these men are wholly bad, it's that they're not. In their human frailty it's too easy to forgive and overlook the faults that ultimately contribute to a deadly problem.

Whilst it wasn't the easiest read, I am glad I persevered with it and found it ultimately very rewarding, and it has an ending that knocks the stuffing out of you. It's well worth a read for anyone who enjoys literary fiction, and particularly for readers with an interest in the Caribbean or in the issue of violence against women.

Passiontide begins with the death of a musician on the island of St. Colibri. The plot subverts the crime fiction tropes to instead focus on the societal issue of femicide and the lapses that result in such horrific crimes. Filled with anger, unity and love, Passiontide offers a mosaic view of life on St. Colibri after this tragedy.

Firstly, the writing of Roffey continues to be evocative and layered, perfectly portraying the emotions of all characters realistically. Elements of magical realism remain, providing a voice to the silenced. There is a broad ensemble, spanning different racialised backgrounds, ages, and class that all have enough time on page to create a nuanced portrait.

My main issue with the novel was that I don't believe the ending committed one way or the other. The afterword perfectly explains why this is the case; however, the novel does such a brilliant job of building rage and power through resistance, that I found myself left caught between the two poles this book was working between.

Overall, I would still recommend The Mermaid of Black Conch to new readers of Roffey, but pre-existing readers should absolutely support Roffey's new novel. Thank you to Netgalley for an e-ARC.

It took me a while to get used to the language, but oh my goodness, what an amazing book this is... Monique Roffey paints the picture of the island so beautifully - you can almost hear the steel pans and smell the camp cooking. The story is both bleak and uplifting, girl power overcoming religion, race, upbringing. This story will stay with me for a very long time.
Thank you #Netgalley for this ARC

"Truth was, they just didn’t know how many women were dead from, what? Greed? Craving? In the Caribbean, everybody exhausted. Like the wheel of trauma went round and round, over several centuries. Millions of First Peoples genocided, millions of Africans enslaved, mass monoculture under a plantation system, heinous mass torture, enforced Christianity, and European language, and culture, indentured Indians, and inside of this, unknowable numbers of women raped and killed. Sora Tanaka was bitten on her neck, strangled to death."

Passiontide is the latest novel from Monique Roffey after the stunning The Mermaid of Black Conch, deservedly the most heralded English language novel of 2020.

Set on the ficticious St Colibri - Black Conch features briefly here as a sister island - this is a more overtly political novel, taking its tragic inspiration from a real-life event: In February 2016, on Ash Wednesday, the body of steel pan player Asami Nagakiya was found dead under a cannonball tree in Port of Spain, Trinidad, as Roffey explans in an afterword,

Passiontide is set over the Lent period (hence the novel's name, Passiontide the Sunday 2 weeks before Easter) and opens with a very similar incident. On Ash Wednesday, as workers clear away the aftermath of Carnival, they discovered the body of a woman, eventually identified as Japanese pan player Sora Tanaka, under a cannonball tree, victim of a savage murder.

A group of local women, led by a local journalist, the leader of a sex worker's collective and an activist, come together to protest the death, and violence against women in general, in part inspired by the tactics of the Occupy protestors:

"She gazed around. Fat, thin, old, young, straight, queer, brown, black and, yes, even some white women had joined them. Sex workers, mothers, single mothers, friends. The powers that be saw them as nobodies. Freaks. This, indeed, was the best they could muster, in a city of half a million. But the Buddha, Jesus, alluh dem had started a revolution with less disciples. A handful of press had gathered too. Some were snapping pictures."

Their initially modest protest snowballs as many women across the community join in, including the Prime Minister's wife, in an increasingly intersectional campaign:

"And so, on the fourth Sunday of Lent, thousands of women, their children left behind in the crèche, marched back to the cannonball tree where the young pan player from Japan had been murdered, strangled by a stranger, left for dead. Women who were black and brown, African and Carib, Hindu and Creole, old and young, queer and straight, many from working-class backgrounds, but not all, some held large photos of dead or missing local women. Many held placards and new hashtag signs; #IMSCAREDTOO, #FEMICIDEMUSTSTOP; in these numbers, they were now impossible to ignore. Always the symbol of the cannonball tree held aloft."

The PM attempts to push-back, arguing that their feminism is a white-Western import which detracts from the true enemy:

"Feminism is not something that comes from a colonised space. It was invented by white women in America and Europe, imposed on us; both of these places colonise us. Their feminism has nothing to do with us here in St Colibri. We, as an island state, are signatories to the UN’s CEDAW Convention, which bans all discrimination against women. We take this seriously. We, your men, black men, are good men. We are from an oppressed people. Let us never forget this. And we are not your enemy. We are your brothers and friends and husbands. We share an enemy, our ex-colonisers, and this, this bobol with “femicide” and all of this – tying yourselves to railings, playing dead – nah, this is clouding the real issue we should be setting ourselves. Which is to take the issue of reparations to the highest court in the world, The Hague, and demand compensation for five hundred years of slavery. Allayou, while I understand have a point, allayou is wrong, overall. You are, in fact, missing the point. We, black men, we are oppressed; we support you. You, women of this island should support us too, and join us in this shared struggle."

but this backfires badly, not least as the main opposition to the women comes from the very forces he claims to be against, and even he eventually sees the way the political tides are flowing.

Passiontide lacks the mythical inventiveness of The Mermaid of Black Conch and the intersectional, and successful, nature of the protests can seem a little idealised, although Roffey reminds us in her afterword that the #lifeinleggings and #leaveshealone campaigns in the Carribean in 2016-17 pre-dated the global #metoo movement. But what is lacks in myth it makes up for in passion, and I hope the Women's Prize and Booker will rectify their bizarre lack of acknowledgment of Roffey's previous work.

Thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for the ARC.

After the murder of a Japanese lady in Port Isabella, four women start a revolution to fight against femicide.

This book was amazing! It had the right amount of tension. The characters were unique and well developed and I loved how the four women worked together. Femicide has been a global issue for years, with seemingly little being done by governments. I love how the author touched on such a serious issue and highlighted how different aspects of the system are rigged against justice. I loved this book and can’t wait to read more from this author.

I love Monique Roffey's previous books so was very pleased to receive this one. I really enjoyed it, there's a great cast of characters, important issues, various goddesses, and a lot of humour.
Sora, a Japanese pan player, came to St Colibri, for carnival, and is murdered on the final night. For Tara, Sharleen and Gigi, this is the final straw after 500 unsolved femicides on the island, and they start a protest, which gradually gains the support of local women from all walks of life.
Monique Roffey has a lovely distinct writing style which captures the speech and spirit of the island. Highly recommended.

A powerful book that highlights the way society all over see woman. I found this book really moving, it has a sense of almost satire but the sad thing was it was far from satire. It was well written and the ending hammered the point and main themes of book home perfectly.

A lot of books usually either have a super good beginning or an amazing end. It's pretty rare for me to find one that has both but this defiantly had such a great beginning and all the way through pace that kept me wanting to keep reading like crazy, loved this authors previous work and this was fantastic ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️