CHAPTER 1

PARADISE PICKLES & PRESERVES

May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month. The days are long and

humid. The river shrinks and black crows gorge on bright mangoes

in still, dustgreen trees. Red bananas ripen. Jackfruits burst.

Dissolute bluebottles hum vacuously in the fruity air. Then they stun

themselves against clear windowpanes and die, fatly baʀed in the

sun.

The nights are clear, but suʃused with sloth and sullen

expectation.