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Notable
- Finalist, Binghamton University John Gardner Fiction Book Award, 2002
The Ghost of Bridgetown
Novel. MN: Graywolf, 2001
When Charlotte Lewin’s grandfather offers to send her to Barbados on a special mission, he believes he is sending her on a much-needed vacation, following the death of Charlotte’s sister. The mission seems simple enough: to return a long-forgotten, jewel-encrusted menorah to its rightful owner on the island. However, Charlotte soon finds herself navigating her way through unsettling racial tensions– between white Jews, black Jews, and the native community.
In the oppressive Barbados heat where the body can’t hide its own discomfort, Charlotte ends up sitting side-by-side at a bar with the ghost of Bridgetown himself. And when the startling ramifications of a bizarre parachuting accident threaten to unravel the precarious peace, it is Charlotte who struggles to find the answers. Her emotional entanglement with the people of the island leads to a search, not just to find a home for the menorah, but also for her own place in the world.
The Ghost of Bridgetown is a powerful second novel, a worthy offering to what the Boston Book Review calls Spark’s “broad and devoted following of readers.
Praise
“Debra Spark’s new novel, The Ghost of Bridgetown, is a page turner – a break in the often artful yet sluggishly paced ranks of literary fiction. (…) Spark tackles race relations between Jews – black and white – and the native population in Barbados, all the while plumbing the weird, otherworldly feelings of grief and loss familiar to anyone who’s lost a loved one.(…) The tangle of themes and narratives makes for a deep, thoughtful book that feels light, a joyous read shrouded in sadness.”
—New York Newsday
“Once again, Spark, author of Coconuts for the Saint (1994), cleverly combines humor, mystery, and penetrating cultural insight. (…) Spark paints a humorous yet incisive picture of racial conflict and the elan and resiliency of island life.”
—Donna Seaman, Booklist
“Identity politics is only part of the mixture that makes Spark’s novel so intriguing. As the plot thickens, so do the number of “ghosts”—not only the “duppies” of local legend but also those that have fastened around Charlotte’s heart.”
—Washington Post Book World
“Debra Spark isn’t like most novelists; in The Ghost of Bridgetown, her second novel, she breaks the rules and succeeds in ways that will inspire other writers to rise to her level.”
—San Francisco Chronicle