Ibis, Justin Haynes
Ibis, Justin Haynes
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Ibis
A Novel

Author: Justin Haynes

Narrator: M.L. Sanchez

Unabridged: 10 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 02/18/2025


Synopsis

There is bad luck in New Felicity. The people of the small coastal village have taken in Milagros, an eleven-year-old Venezuelan refugee, just as Trinidad's government has begun cracking down on undocumented migrants—and now an American journalist has come to town asking questions.

New Felicity's superstitious fishermen fear the worst, certain they've brought bad luck on the village by killing a local witch who had herself murdered two villagers the year before. The town has been plagued since her death by alarming visits from her supernatural mother, as well as by a mysterious profusion of scarlet ibis birds.

Skittish that the reporter's story will bring down the wrath of the ministry of national security, the fishermen take things into their own hands. From there, we go backward and forward in time—from the town's early days, when it was the site of a sugar plantation, to Milagros's adulthood as she searches for her mother across the Americas.

In between, through the voices of a chorus of narrators, we glimpse moments from various villagers' lives, each one setting into motion events that will reverberate outwards across the novel and shape Milagros's fate.

Reviews

Goodreads review by BookOfCinz on February 09, 2025

Sharp, engaging, brilliant, witty and unforgettable. Get ready for an incredibly unique read with characters you won’t soon forget. Ibis opens in New Felicity Village, a costal town in Trinidad, there is an increase of Ibis landing in the village where is a bad omen that all the villagers can’t see......more

Goodreads review by Zana on February 06, 2025

I really wanted to give this novel a chance, but unfortunately, I couldn't really mesh with it. I definitely appreciate what the author was going for, especially with the novel's themes on migration (whether forced or voluntary), the plight of refugees, and how the specter of European colonialism lin......more

Goodreads review by LLJ on July 08, 2024

We are made by history. A pivotal statement within #Ibis, a powerful puzzle piece of a novel which insidiously weaves back and forth through time and place, past and present, following the lives of a group of characters as well as their histories and fates. This is a DEBUT novel from Justin Haynes -......more

Goodreads review by unstable.books on January 29, 2025

Ibis is a poetic and devastating book. This species of bird are mystic presences. The novel interweaves the story of Milagros and the appearances of the ibis, blending supernatural elements and real history chock full of abuse of power, oppression and greed. The violent history in these sugar cane f......more

Goodreads review by Melanie on March 10, 2025

Read for a stunning, meandering and magical Caribbean tale of migration, mother-daughter bonds which defy death and the physical world. A tale of reckoning too, but ultimately a story of survival and what we might be willing to do to save the people we love. And how these decisions will not only sha......more