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.