FRANCESCA MOMPLAISIR
FRANCESCA MOMPLAISIR is a Haitian-born multilingual literature scholar and writer of fiction and poetry in both English and her native Haitian Kreyol. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University, the University of Oxford, and New York University. She earned a Doctorate in African and African diaspora literature as an NYU MacCracken fellow under her supervisor and mentor, Ngugi wa Thiong’o. She is a recipient of a Fulbright fellowship to travel to Ghana to research the cultural retention and memory of the transatlantic slave trade. She lives in the New York City metro area.
THE GARDEN OF BROKEN THINGS
Genevieve, a single mother, flies to Port-au-Prince in 2010 with her teenage son, Miles. The trip is meant to be an education for Miles-a chance to learn about his family's roots while coming to terms with his father's departure-but it's also an excuse for Genevieve to escape New York City, where her life is dominated by her failed marriage and the daily pressures of raising Black children in America. For Genevieve, the journey is also a homecoming of sorts: an opportunity to visit the island she remembers from childhood, reconnect with her abrasive cousin, Ateya, and tend to her young, dejected niece, Ti'Louse. But when the is rocked by a massive earthquake-decimating the city and putting their lives at risk-Genevieve and Ateya are hurried down separate paths to preserve all they hold dearest: Ateya searching the plantain gardens for her daughter; Genevieve racing across the island to find medical care for her wounded son. Teetering on the faultline of history and one family's collapse, and written with dazzling prose and an unflinching eye, The Garden of Broken Things is an astonishing novel about restoration and disaster, motherhood and the bonds that carry through generations.
Praise for The Garden of Broken Things
Winner of the 2024 American Fiction Award for Multicultural Fiction
A Finalist for the 2022 Bridge Book Awards
“Superlative in her ability to portray the interior lives of mothers and their 24/7 litany of self-recrimination, Momplaisir also tackles themes of racism, immigration, and the lasting effects of colonialism. A notable achievement.”
— Library Journal, starred review
“fast-paced and lyrical … a moving glimpse into the dynamics of Haitian diasporic culture.”
— Publishers Weekly
“This complex tale of motherhood, saturated with guilt and envy, examines the consequences of the past for both those who leave their homes and those who are left behind.”
— Booklist
MY MOTHER’S HOUSE
Knopf Doubleday - May 12, 2020
When Lucien flees Haiti with his wife, Marie-Ange, and their three children to New York City's South Ozone Park, he does so hoping for reinvention, wealth, and comfort. He buys a rundown house in a community that is quickly changing from an Italian enclave of mobsters to a haven for Haitian immigrants, and begins life anew. Lucien and Marie-Ange call their home La Kay--"my mother's house"--and it becomes a place where their fellow immigrants can find peace, a good meal, and legal help. But as a severely emotionally damaged man emigrating from a country whose evils he knows to one whose evils he doesn't, Lucien soon falls into his worst habits and impulses, with La Kay as the backdrop for his lasciviousness. What he can't even begin to fathom is that the house is watching, passing judgment, and deciding to put an end to all the sins it has been made to hold. But only after it has set itself aflame will frightened whispers reveal Lucien's ultimate evil.
At once an uncompromising look at the immigrant experience and an electrifying page-turner, My Mother's House is a singular, unforgettable achievement.
praise for my mother’s house
One of “The Most-Anticipated Novels of 2020” from Paste Magazine
One of The Millions Most Anticipated Books in the First Half of 2020
One of the “10 Most-Anticipated New Books of May 2020” from Paperback Paris
One of the “Best New Books of 2020 (So Far)” from Elle.com
“A haunting story of the [Haitian American] immigrant experience amid toxic male dominance—My Mother’s House is unsettling and unlike anything else you will read.”—Karin Slaughter, New York Times and internationally bestselling author
“Momplaisir is a bold and powerful new voice, and My Mother’s House is poised to blow the roof off.”—Carolina De Robertis, author of Cantoras
“Francesca Momplaisir’s storytelling is lush, dynamic and captivating, with a sharp eye for details and an honest uncompromising depiction of human visciousness as well as beauty. My Mother’s House is an absolutely gripping read!”—Sahar Delijani, author of Children of the Jacaranda Tree
“A shockingly original exploration of class, race, and systemic violence . . . This house, tainted by the human evil it contains, is reminiscent of the opening line of Toni Morrison's Beloved. And, like Morrison, Momplaisir uses the tropes of fantasy to try to assert truths that ordinary language and realistic imagery cannot communicate . . . Momplaisir's debut introduces her as an author to watch.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Momplaisir’s arresting take on the abuse of male power will long haunt the reader.”—Publishers Weekly
“In Momplaisir’s novel, cracks of light are always there to penetrate the dark.”—BookPage
“Dense with poetic imagery, this debut novel is propelled forward by rich detail that mercifully obfuscates some of its violence. A tour de force; Momplaisir is a writer to watch.”—Library Journal, starred review
“My Mother’s House is an ambitious attempt to tell a story of despotism and terror, toxic masculinity and survival, and is a needed contribution to this difficult conversation.”—New York Times Book Review
“My Mother’s House tackles some of our most pressing societal issues, including gentrification, racial injustice, and the psychological harm of migration, with rarely encountered grace and an unflinching eye.”—Tor.com
“A gripping examination of immigration, the American Dream and the dangers of toxic masculinity.”—Ms. Magazine
“Momplaisir’s brutal exploration of the immigrant experience, gender dynamics, and race is masterful and makes for a stunning debut.”—Elle
“This one fits into the genre of ‘stay-up-all-night’ books both because it is impossible to stop reading and also because it makes you scared to turn off the light.”—Vulture
“Bewitching.”—O Magazine
"My Mother’s House is an unforgettable thriller … Francesca Momplaisir has written a book for the ages that will rightfully draw comparisons to Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1987 novel Beloved."—Bitch Media, "13 Books Feminists Should Read in May"
“[Momplaisir's] debut reads as both an unsentimental tale of resilience in the face of struggle and a particularly modern thriller. But it also arrives as a timely depiction of the wages of structural racism, exhorting us to see the people whose lives are treated as expendable.”—Commonweal Magazine
“One of 2020's most essential reads.”—PopSugar