LAUREN FRANCIS-SHARMA
LAUREN FRANCIS-SHARMA is the author of two novels, including Book of the Little Axe (Grove, 2020), selected as the 2020 ALA “Libraries Transform Book Pick” and as BOOKLIST's Editor’s Choice for 2020, and 'Til the Well Runs Dry (Holt, 2014), awarded the Honor Fiction Prize by the Black Caucus of the ALA and short-listed for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. Lauren holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature with a minor in African-American Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. She is a contributor to Marita Golden’s 2019 anthology, Us Against Alzheimer’s, and her more recent work can be found at ElectricLit, Barrelhouse, and The Lily. Lauren is a book reviewer for The San Francisco Chronicle, a MacDowell Fellow and the Assistant Director of Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference at Middlebury College. She also serves on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation.
BOOK OF THE LITTLE AXE
Grove Atlantic - May 12, 2020
In 1796 Trinidad, young Rosa Rendón quietly but purposefully rebels against the life others expect her to lead. Bright, competitive, and opinionated, Rosa sees no reason she should learn to cook and keep house, for it is obvious her talents lie in running the farm she, alone, views as her birthright. But when her homeland changes from Spanish to British rule, it becomes increasingly unclear whether its free black property owners―Rosa’s family among them―will be allowed to keep their assets, their land, and ultimately, their freedom.
By 1830, Rosa is living among the Crow Nation in Bighorn, Montana with her children and her husband, Edward Rose, a Crow chief. Her son Victor is of the age where he must seek his vision and become a man. But his path forward is blocked by secrets Rosa has kept from him. So Rosa must take him to where his story began and, in turn, retrace her own roots, acknowledging along the way, the painful events that forced her from the middle of an ocean to the rugged terrain of a far-away land.
praise for book of the little axe
One of The Millions Most Anticipated Books in the First Half of 2020
One of Electric Lit’s “Books by Women and Nonbinary Writers of Color to Read in 2020”
“Book of the Little Axe is an epic novel that recreates the hybrid history of Native and African peoples during the era of American exploration and expansion. Lauren Francis-Sharma’s care for her characters and skill with her subject shine through every page.”—Laila Lalami, author of The Other Americans
"Lauren Francis-Sharma has written one of those thrilling novels—so valuable and welcome—that adds (or better say restores) another strand to our national narrative. We’re all the richer for Book of the Little Axe.”—Peter Ho Davies, author of The Fortunes
"From her gripping first sentence, Lauren Francis-Sharma draws her reader into her intoxicating tale of intrigue, love, conflict, and power struggle at a pivotal time in the histories of Trinidad and the western United States. Her research is meticulous, her prose seductive, her characters mesmerizing. Book of the Little Axe shines a bright light on the little-known connections between the Caribbean and the United States. Readers will find it almost impossible to put this book down.”—Elizabeth Nunez, author of Prospero’s Daughter and Even in Paradise
“Book of the Little Axe is epic in ambition and scope, a sweeping tale that illuminates pivotal historical periods in Trinidad and North America, and the links between them. This is also the story of a young man’s coming of age and a mother’s secrets and a family’s love in the face of violence. Lauren Francis-Sharma brings her characters and their tangled histories to life with tremendous precision and sensitivity. This is the work of a major voice, a brilliant talent.”―Laura van den Berg, award winning author of The Third Hotel
“They say the past is a foreign country but forget to mention that it's also wild. Book of the Little Axe reminds us. Ranging from Trinidad to the mountainous West, Lauren Francis-Sharma has woven an emotional, immediate, ambitious story of love and belonging. Rather than retell a story of first contact between native people and newcomers to the new world, Francis-Sharma has produced a deeply moving novel about the ways in which all of us have always been connected.”―David Treuer, author of The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee
“From the farms of Trinidad to the forests of the American West, the tale of Rosa Rendón is hard yet engrossing… The various strands of the story come together to illuminate how power and race can warp a life… A sad, compelling novel about a woman of color who fights against society’s expectation .”―Library Journal
“In this masterly epic, the pleasure lies in piecing everything together.”―Publishers Weekly
“Francis-Sharma . . . offers fascinating characters across the broad sweep of the American continent at a time of great tumult, warring colonial powers, the spread of slavery, and expansion West. This is a compelling saga of family bonds, ambitions, and desires, all subject to the vagaries of powerful historical forces.”―Booklist, starred review
“If you appreciate historical fiction, you will love this epic family saga.”―Ms. Magazine
'TIL THE WELL RUNS DRY
Henry Holt & Co. – April 15, 2014
A glorious and moving multi-generational, multicultural saga that begins in the 1940s and sweeps through the 1960’s in Trinidad and the United States.
Lauren Francis-Sharma’s ‘Til the Well Runs Dry opens in a seaside village in the north of Trinidad where young Marcia Garcia, a gifted and smart-mouthed 16-year-old seamstress, lives alone, raising two small boys and guarding a family secret. When she meets Farouk Karam, an ambitious young policeman (so taken with Marcia that he elicits the help of a tea-brewing obeah woman to guarantee her ardor), the risks and rewards in Marcia’s life amplify forever.
On an island rich with laughter, Calypso, Carnival, cricket, beaches and salty air, sweet fruits and spicy stews, the novel follows Marcia and Farouk from their amusing and passionate courtship through personal and historical events that threaten Marcia’s secret, entangle the couple and their children in a scandal, and endanger the future for all of them.
‘Til the Well Runs Dry tells the twinned stories of a spirited woman’s love for one man and her bottomless devotion to her children. For readers who cherish the previously untold stories of women’s lives, here is a story of grit and imperfection and love that has not been told before.
Praise for ‘TIL THE WELL RUNS DRY
Shortlisted for 2016 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing
“Marcia’s story, told lovingly in this, Francis-Sharma’s debut novel, is as universally touching as it is original.“—New York Times Book Review
“You’ll hear the calypso music in this vivid debut about a spirited seamstress and devoted mother with a family secret.“—People
“10 Titles to Pick Up Now“—O, The Oprah Magazine
“[A] remarkably accomplished first-time novelist. . . .Francis-Sharma’s spellbinding, intimately detailed, psychologically lush, and suspenseful tale of racial and sexual trauma, hard work, love, and family devotion makes personal the injustice people endured in the years leading up to the civil rights movement in both multicultural Trinidad and segregated America.“—Booklist, starred review
“A saga ripe with heartbreak and joy . . . Francis-Sharma delivers a rich and satisfying debut on the ties of family, love, and culture.“—Kirkus Reviews
“Lauren Francis-Sharma’s debut novel, ‘Til the Well Runs Dry, illuminates a complex and beautiful Trinidad… [And] at the heart of ‘Til the Well Runs Dry is Marcia Garcia’s delightful, eccentric story of several decades, several children, much resilience, many secrets, romance, and harrowing immigration. In ‘Til the Well Runs Dry, Lauren Francis-Sharma has gone looking for her own personal history and has written as well an important narrative celebrating the African and South Asian people who created Caribbean culture.“—Breena Clarke, bestselling author of River, Cross My Heart and Angels Make Their Hope Here
“’Til The Well Runs Dry is unforgettable. Like the best poetry, it has all the high notes: a beautiful girl, a spell that leads to love and death, and a terrible secret—in language pierced with the cries and colors of the West Indies. But this is not just a story; it’s the author’s retelling of her own origins. Sweet, brutal, and unsparing, this is Lauren Francis-Sharma’s first book, yet she commands the page.“—Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Deep End of the Ocean
“An evocative and emotionally resonant family saga with one of the most compelling heroines I’ve met in a long time. A story of love, loss, and triumph set in a world of secret and moral consequence. Like the Obeah woman in her story, Lauren Francis-Sharma has cast a spell that refuses to release me. I won’t forget this story or the voice of this wonderful new writer any time soon.“—Brunonia Barry, New York Times bestselling author of The Lace Reader
“‘Alone, I sat on the sand and took in the beauty of my grandmother’s land’ was the reason Lauren Francis-Sharma gave for writing her remarkable debut ‘Til The Well Runs Dry. I was swept away by this thunderous, witty, and deeply soulful novel about family, Trinidad, secrets, porch sitters, dirt roads and passion. And so satisfying, like the first time I read my aunt’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God.“—Lucy Anne Hurston, author of Speak, So You Can Speak Again
“A first novel, yes. But balanced with experiences, imagery, and characters that linger on the flesh. Eyes. In the heart. And as I read the last paragraph and closed the book, I knew that I had experienced an amazing journey of light. Thank you my dear sister for this wonderful book.“—Sonia Sanchez, poet and writer
“With an intense voice, Lauren Francis-Sharma draws us into old Trinidad, weaving a classic immigrant’s tale, punctuated with the heady scents and rhythms of a bygone time, carrying us to the new world.“—Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, author of A Tiger in the Kitchen
“I devoured ‘Til the Well Runs Dry in three short nights. I couldn’t wait to get back to the stories and the characters who I almost didn’t want to be fiction, because I cared so much about their ever-after. I found Lauren Francis-Sharma’s world, so familiar to me, a place with hidden corners hiding deep secrets I couldn’t wait to unravel and then to have my breath pause as they revealed themselves in ways I couldn’t imagine. Her story might be about a girl from Blanchisseuse, but above that it is an extraordinary story about a misunderstood girl who knows how to stand her ground.“—Victoria Brown, author of Minding Ben
“Lauren Francis-Sharma is a true story-teller. ‘Til the Well Runs Dry burns through its telling like the best gossip, but has the controlled mystery of a fairytale. This narrative is surprising, winding and always gratifying.”—Tiphanie Yanique, author of How to Escape from a Leper Colony and Land of Love and Drowning
“In her debut novel, Lauren Francis-Sharma takes us to the island of Trinidad, the ‘Land of the Humming Bird,’ in a story that feels more like a song, with a chorus of voices across generations revealing a culture as vibrant and enriching as it is overlooked by those on the mainland.“—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University
“Lauren Francis Sharma’s talent shines!”—USA Today
“…a sweeping, old-fashioned love story, a saga of terrible secrets and passionate ties. Readers will stay up all night with this book to find out what happens. You could think of this debut as The Secret Life of Bees meets The Help, set mostly in Trinidad.”—Barbara Jones, Executive Editor at Holt