Bruised Hibiscus

The year is 1954. A white woman’s body, stuffed in a coconut bag, has washed ashore in Otatiti, Trinidad, and the British colony is rife with rumors. In two homes, one in a distant shantytown, the other on the outskirts of a former sugar cane estate, two women hear the news and their blood runs cold. Rosa, the white daughter of a landowner, and Zuela, the adopted “daughter” of a Chinese shop owner used to play together as girls—and witnessed something terrible behind a hibiscus bush many years ago.Elizabeth Nunez, PhD, is the bestselling author of 10 novels, including Bruised Hibiscus, winner of an American Book Award. Nunez’s book Boundaries was selected as a New York Times Editors' Choice and was a 2012 NAACP Image Award nominee. She immigrated to the United States from Trinidad and is a distinguished professor at Hunter College, the City University of New York.