A stylistically and conceptually daring collection that winds from fantastical horror to mischievous domestic realism and always keeps in its sharp, compassionate view the material, spiritual, and emotional lives of Haitian people.
Read MoreA stylistically and conceptually daring collection that winds from fantastical horror to mischievous domestic realism and always keeps in its sharp, compassionate view the material, spiritual, and emotional lives of Haitian people.
Read MorePlayful, kinetic, and devastating in turn, You Were Watching from the Sand is a collection in which Haitian men, women, and children who find their lives cleaved by the interminably strange bite back at the bizarre with their own oddities. In “belly,” a young woman abandoned by her only living relative makes a person from the mud beside her backyard creek. In “We Feel it in Punta Cana,” a domestic child servant in the Dominican Republic tours through his own lush imagination to make his material conditions more bearable. In “The Oldest Sensation is Anger,” a teenager invites a same-aged family friend into her apartment and uncovers a spate of disturbing secrets about her. Written in a mixture of high lyricism, absurdist comedy, and Haitian cultural witticisms, this is a collection whose dynamism matches that of its characters at every beat and turn.
"Every sentence Juliana Lamy writes is like a match being struck. Not many authors debut with her clarity of vision, inventiveness, and verbal agility, and I would wager almost anything that You Were Watching from the Sand will mark only the first chapter in an important body of work."—Kevin Brockmeier, author of The Ghost Variations: One Hundred Stories
"The debut short-story collection by Haitian-born, South Florida-raised, Harvard graduate Juliana Lamy vividly portrays adolescent life and dreams in Miami's Haitian community. Gritty, bizarre, and poetic, the stories speak from each narrator's often-unexpected viewpoint, bringing to life what are usually grim, challenging personal situations... Throughout, we see a talented young writer beginning to strut her stuff and promising more to come." —Richard & Sally Price, New West Indian Guide
"Juliana Lamy's You Were Watching from the Sand, a story collection with such range and beauty that you need to sit with each one for a while."—ELLE Magazine
Playful, kinetic, and devastating in turn, You Were Watching from the Sand is a collection in which Haitian men, women, and children who find their lives cleaved by the interminably strange bite back at the bizarre with their own oddities. In “belly,” a young woman abandoned by her only living relative makes a person from the mud beside her backyard creek. In “We Feel it in Punta Cana,” a domestic child servant in the Dominican Republic tours through his own lush imagination to make his material conditions more bearable. In “The Oldest Sensation is Anger,” a teenager invites a same-aged family friend into her apartment and uncovers a spate of disturbing secrets about her. Written in a mixture of high lyricism, absurdist comedy, and Haitian cultural witticisms, this is a collection whose dynamism matches that of its characters at every beat and turn.
"Every sentence Juliana Lamy writes is like a match being struck. Not many authors debut with her clarity of vision, inventiveness, and verbal agility, and I would wager almost anything that You Were Watching from the Sand will mark only the first chapter in an important body of work."—Kevin Brockmeier, author of The Ghost Variations: One Hundred Stories
"The debut short-story collection by Haitian-born, South Florida-raised, Harvard graduate Juliana Lamy vividly portrays adolescent life and dreams in Miami's Haitian community. Gritty, bizarre, and poetic, the stories speak from each narrator's often-unexpected viewpoint, bringing to life what are usually grim, challenging personal situations... Throughout, we see a talented young writer beginning to strut her stuff and promising more to come." —Richard & Sally Price, New West Indian Guide
"Juliana Lamy's You Were Watching from the Sand, a story collection with such range and beauty that you need to sit with each one for a while."—ELLE Magazine