Archipelago

Author of The Mermaid of Black Conch, Rathbone Folio Prize 2021 longlisted, Winner of the Costa Best Novel Award 2020 & Winner of the Costa Book of the Year 2020

When a flood destroys Gavin Weald's home, tearing apart his family and his way of life, he doesn't know how to continue. A year later, he returns to his rebuilt home and tries to start again, but when the new rainy season arrives, so do his daughter's nightmares about the torrents, and life there becomes unbearable.

So father and daughter - and their dog - embark upon a voyage to make peace with the waters. Their journey will take them far from their Caribbean island home, into other unknown harbours and eventually across a massive ocean. They will sail through archipelagos, encounter the grandeur of the sea, meet with the challenges and surprises of the natural world. A miraculous future lies ahead of them, unknown territories await to be discovered. But it will take more than an ocean to put the memory of the flood behind them…

'Monique Roffey's Archipelago is a sparkling portrayal of the Caribbean, and the outer layer of the plot is a magical sea voyage through the islands between Trinidad and the Panama Canal. The real story of Archipelago, however, is a deeply moving journey through grief' --(Kate Saunders, We Love This Book July issue)

'Roffey reveals here in her understanding of men in extremis.
As a writer, Roffey meets the challenge confidently, structuring her narrative adeptly and holding the reader's attention throughout. As the novel progresses, we are invited to condemn Gavin a little less and understand him a lot more. In his inner dialogue we catch the dilemma of a man living in a world where every action is expected to be executed perfectly and confidently, while dealing with feelings of isolation, self-doubt, fear and shame.
Out on the open sea, where his decisions become a matter of life or death, we see that for all his self-loathing, he is motivated by two kinds of love an aching longing for his dead wife and a profound love for his daughter. All of which comes on top of more traditional elements of sea-faring adventure. It's a powerful story of endurance and triumph in the face of adversity, and one that also offers answers to questions of how we might respond in a rapidly changing world when things start to go wrong' --(Jim Ferguson, Scotsman)

'ARCHIPELAGO is lovely: a novel full of sensual, elemental description, soaked in loss and damage and softly haunted by the Caribbean's bloody history of slavery' --(Claire Allfree, interview, Metro)

'Fascinating... Archipelago was a revelation to me; bringing to life a part of the world I knew little about --(NewBooks)

'A dangerous, beautiful journey through the Caribbean - evoked by Roffey in a prose-feast of flying fish and turquoise water...moving' --(The Times)

'ARCHIPELAGO travels to new, intoxicating latitudes...The result is an adventure blazing with a lust for life. The thrust of the story is both geographical and psychological. Roffey excels equally at the hands-on descriptions of yachting, the intricacies of island navigation, the beauty and terror of the sea, and the inner life of her rudderless protagonist...Half the joy here is the experience of life on a boat ...The other half is riding the waves with an open mind to discover where Gavin and his crew wash up. ...[This is a] big-hearted Moby-Dick story for our times' --(Kapka Kassabova, The Guardian)

'Monique Roffey's compelling new novel...is studded with striking images. There's a real sense of momentum...Roffey is adept at conveying wonder' --(Natasha Tripney, The Observer)

'Well-written and well told... Monique Roffey has a winner on her hands with ARCHIPELAGO' --(Raoul Pantin, Trinidad and Tobago Review)

'Roffey traces [Gavin and his daughter Ocean's] meditative journey from Trinidad, heading to the Galapagos, with deceptively simple prose that tenderly brings to life the wondrous creatures and landscapes they encounter. But the real strength of the novel lies in her quiet exploration of both a child and an adult's attempts to comprehend the loss and catastrophe that nature can impose' --(Francesca Angelini, The Sunday Times) --(Claire Allfree, interview, Metro)