Rebirth

I don’t usually pick up books written by celebrities so I was a little hesitant picking up Asha Bromfield’s Hurricane Summer. For the Riverdale fans she plays Melody Jones of Josie and the Pussycats. However, FOLDKids included this book on their summer reading list and they have never steered me wrong before so I dove in.

Hurricane Summer is Tilla’s coming of age story. Sent to spend the summer with her father in Jamaica along with her little sister Mia, she is a mix of emotions. Lately her relationship with her father has been strained and she knows she will miss her mom terribly. As soon as they land on the island, Tilla is thrust into a summer of discovery, heartbreak, love and cruelty. She is completely undone so she can build herself back up again, all with a looming hurricane, actual and metaphorical ready to destroy everything.

Asha Bromfield delivers a story equal parts beautiful and devastating. In Hurricane Summer, readers will get lost on the island of Jamaica, not the parts that tourists see but the country, where classism and internalized racism persist and the people work hard from the land to survive. Bromfield delivers the perfect balance of dialogue and description, offering the reader incredible details of the land and the people, along with lengthy conversations in Patois. I have to admit when I opened the book and saw the extensive Patois word bank I was immediately intimidated but as I began to explore the story the Patois was so natural and easily understood. I did reference the word bank a couple of times but found I really didn’t have to. I was so enveloped in the story that I lost track of time, completely ignoring my family because I was no longer in my backyard in Toronto, I was transported to the countryside in Jamaica.

You may need to protect your heart when reading Tilla’s story of her hurricane summer. Asha Bromfield deeply explores the transition from girl to woman and how a woman’s sexuality can be weaponized and used to break her. Tilla’s relationship with her father is complicated and there is a lot of heartbreak surrounding her father.

For all of the torment, there is incredible beauty. Andre will capture your heart. Wise beyond his years and a true friend to Tilla. There are the most exquisite moments between Tilla and Andre as he helps her navigate the country and her extended family and as she tries to show him he is more than the darkness of his skin.

Read every page, from the introduction to the acknowledgements. This story will break you in two and when you understand how the story came to be and who helped it along it’s path it becomes so much more meaningful and lingering.