The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts

This imaginative take on the “Anansi the Spider” stories traverses worlds both real and imagined, from 1990s Brooklyn to the realms of West African and Caribbean folklore. Palmer’s magical debut places listeners in the middle of a fractured, ever-shifting Jamaican and Trinidadian family. Sisters Sasha and Zora are growing up and apart as Sasha explores her gender identity and sexuality, and Zora escapes into her writing while their parents’ marriage falls apart. Their mother returns to Trinidad to seek folk cures for the masses growing in her brain and spreading throughout her body, and their father begins a new family, all while Anansi turns from demigod to spider, and Mama Dglo protects her watery home from polluters and poachers. Voice-over artist Jaimi Gray narrates this novel as if she has done it all her life, with a Caribbean patois that belies her Virginia roots. The rhythmic, vibrant performance adds such texture to the story that print readers will be at a distinct disadvantage.