I found this beautiful book in the bookcrossing shelf in Kirjasto 10, a library in Helsinki.

What a treasure this book appeared to be! Claire of the Sea Light, Claire Limyè Lanmè turns seven and her father, an illiterate fisherman, makes a decision to give her away so he could go looking for a better life. Claire's mother died in delivery and Claire has lived her first three years with her aunt but after that with his father that is very dear to her. There are many secrets in this Haitian seaside village which the reader gets to see different sides as the story unfolds.

I liked the structure of this book, you get to see the same day or what happened 10 years ago from a slightly different angle and how people are linked together. There was no rush reading this, the time stood still in away as I took in the sentences and their meanings. There is corruption, injustice, poverty, many deaths, loneliness in this community but also beauty and love and understanding.

Some Haitian Creole was used in a book and also French which are two official languages in Haiti. The book was published 2013 and I didn't find many copies of it registered here so I'm considering to make a book ray for it here in Finland if I find people interested in that. But I might just make a controlled release of it in our meet-up in Helsinki. Let's see.

As I was googling information about the author and wondering if I should read more of her books I suddenly realized I've already read her first novel Breath, eyes, memory in Finnish not so long ago. I liked that one too as you can see from the journal entry if you read Finnish http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/2240638

I was going to use this book for a challenge as a book that was written by non-European and non-North-American writer. Now I realized that it Dandicat is Haitian by origin but she has lived in the United States since she was two years old so she is a North-American writer as well but let me please consider her as a Haitian writer because her background really shows in her writing.

The book ray will be arranged - in Finland

Attending:
- Annimanni (Espoo)
- Erpax (Tampere)
-Soozreader (Joensuu)
- pippis (Turku

Annimanni took the book from the meet-up.

Thank you! I'll get to this as soon as I've finished my current book.

Beautiful, sad, humane, captivating. I'm glad you asked me to join the ring, toukokuu!

Next off to erpax.

Claire lähtee nyt vasta eteenpäin. Anteeksi viivästys, se oli hautautunut pöydällä olevaan kirjapinoon...

Herkullisen näköiset omput odottelivat valtaisan postipinon pohjalla. Kiitos, Annimanni ja toukokuu!

Thank you very much! The book is with me now:)

I really liked the book! The story was beautiful, sad yet hopeful... The story was full of life! The book was telling the story of so many that I think in the end the pages ended too early for them all.

The book is finally on its way to the next reader! I'm really sorry for the delay! Happy reading!:)

Oh what a gem! Thank you very much for making my day! No need to apologize, I've had a book or two at hand anyway... :p

I had no expectations for the book, but I was a little disappointed to not find it as enchanting or touching as other Danticat novels. The language wasn't as flowing, as poetic as in her earlier works and I kept waiting for the world of the characters to open up in some deeper, more meaningful level. Creole, French and English used all mixed up made the characters more lively, the village more believable and I kept using google throughout the story, just to look for the vegetables, plants and historical tidbits mentioned.
I was expecting the book's name to have some more meaningful purpose in the book or Claire (the daughter) herself to have a deeper relation with the sea. Instead the book felt more like a collection of short stories from Haiti, woven together loosely around Claire's family. Each person had a more troublesome life than you'd wish on anyone and reading all the stories back to back was a little depressing... The book felt more like a long essay on motherhood and mothers, their significance throughout people's lives, the hardships of mothers and their children. Even Claire (the daughter) seemed only important through her mother and because of her mother - she had no actual voice herself.
Claire of the Sea Light wasn't a bad read, but it just wasn't a memorable one for me.

Found a wish for the book, so Claire is travelling to another island!

Received with thanks!
Kiitos!

I enjoyed this book and the unusual setting in Haiti. The characters felt real and I held my breath to Claire to the end. Thank you for sharing.