Red Island House: A Novel

"This transporting history of an imperfect marriage braids together dramatic episodes, island history and fable, all infused with Lee’s sharp insights into human nature." —People Magazine "Come for the views, stay for simmering tensions and culture clashes. Lee welcomes readers with lush language, then lays out a dazzling buffet of choices and assumptions that are ripe for questioning." —The New York Times "Axa0gorgeous narrative that perhaps only Lee could have constructed — an ambitious attempt to use fiction to explore the reality of a world fractured by race and class." —The Washington Post "Spellbinding! I’m in utter awe of Red Island House. . . . Lee’s exquisitely precise language brings the reader deep into the Malagasy world, both geographically and emotionally, and I never wanted to leave.xa0This book is a marvel." — Elin Hilderbrand "Lush, perceptive... axa0unique, surprising work – at once a psychological novel, a novel of placexa0and a novel about relationships." — Mark Athitakis, USA Today "Lee combines luscious physical descriptions with sharp-witted social perception in this thrilling novel...xa0she approaches the broadly political and the minutely intimate with equally fine prose." — Jackie Thomas-Kennedy, Minneapolis Star Tribune "Lee’s striking writing is layered and thick with evocative descriptions of people, landscapes, feelings and foreboding. Sociological and psychological, it’s prose with the abstract feel of poetry. The stories of Red Island House are vibrant and enchanting." —BookPage, starred review "Offers a captivating take on colonialism, privilege, race, and heritage." — Christian Science Monitor “Journey to the island of Madagascar through the eyes of a Black American woman in an epic tale that explores the dangers of love against the backdrop of paradise." —San Francisco Book Review "Andrea Leexa0whisks you to the island of Madagascar and spins interconnected stories set on the beach." —Martha Stewart Living "Leexa0writes with such lush and observant precision that you feel you are traveling with her." — The Millions "Brilliant and tragic." — Booklist, starred review "A mesmerizing novel...xa0The lush natural habitat and privileged ex-pat existence contrast starkly with the island’s poverty and traditions, and Lee makes magic of this to deliver a singularly intriguing and mysterious saga that casts an enduring spell." — O Magazine , Most Anticipated Books of 2021 "Gorgeous writing, fascinating stories, and a vibrant cast of locals and expats dance around this basic theme ... An utterly captivating, richly detailed, and highly critical vision of how the one percent lives in neocolonial paradise." —Kirkus, starred review "Seductive... the writing is vivid... the overall impact is quietly powerful." —Publishers Weekly "Lee is known for the evocative settings of her...books...I’m excited to travel to Madagascar with her new novel." —The Every Girl "The star is Madagascar... whose terrain is so gorgeously described by Lee that any reader with an ounce of adventurousness would move to the island tomorrow. But beauty can never hide tension for long, and Lee deftly handles race and class in ways that resonate even for those who could not find Madagascar with a GPS." — Air Mail "Red Island House is one of the best novels of the year. Axa0beautifully constructed manifesto on the Black expatriate view of the world,xa0Andrea Lee explores mixed race heritage and inheritance in such an electric, interesting way.” — Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of Libertie “Andreaxa0Lee's new novel—about a Black American woman caught between her privilege and her identity—is daring, riveting and deep. The lavish vacation home she and her husband build on an impoverished African island is a collision course, and like this novel, will make you question everything you thought you understood—about allegiance and race, politics and desire.” —Danzy Senna, author of New People " Andrea Lee's latest novel is a work of supremexa0knowingness, and keen observation. As one of the more articulate voices we have on the exigencies of race, place, and gender, Lee has rendered, in this superbly constructed and felt book, that rare thing: a work of the imagination as shattering as the truth." — Hilton Als, author of The Women and White Girls “‘In Madagascar, everything speaks’ . . . if you can hear it. And hear it all does Andrea Lee’s exquisitely sentient protagonist. At first dimly, but then with an ever more discerning ear, Shay attunes herself and the reader to subtlety after subtlety, until the island has yielded extraordinary truths, not only about itself, its people, and its visitors, but about the undertow of plunder. This is a ravishing book ofuncommon depth; I loved it.” —Gishxa0Jen, author of The Resisters “Lee’s Red Island House is a seductive, haunted dreamscape where ancestors stir trouble across four centuries and three continents. From the moment Shay Senna arrives at this seaside Madagascar paradise, she senses danger. Betrayal comes but so does reconciliation and a healing sisterhood, as Lee lures us into a realm where boundaries between the real and the surreal disappear.” —A’Leliaxa0Bundles, author of Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C. J. Walker "This magical novel—a collection of reflections and vignettes—is as lush, dense and vivid as the Madagascar it describes. Pairing rich detail with reflective restraint, Lee has created something truly beautiful: At once an exploration of an enchanted island and a meditation on modern womanhood." — Taiye Selasi, author of Ghana Must Go "At once charming and deeply serious, this eloquent, elegant, beautifullyxa0written novel takes on the full range of human experience: love and disappointment, hope and betrayal, race, class, colonialism, moral obligation, the high cost of being an outsider--and the equally high price of belonging." — Francine Prose, author of Mister Monkey "I know of no other writer who creates the kinds of worlds Andrea Lee imagines—the exquisite prose, the otherworldly landscapes, the fascinating people. Red Island House transported me.xa0It may have looked like I was sitting on my couch reading a book, but I’m telling you I traveled to Madagascar.” —Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author of Wench and Balm Andrea Lee is the author of five books, including the National Book Award–nominated memoir Russian Journal ,xa0the novels Red Island House, Lost Hearts in Italy and Sarah Phillips , and the story collection Interesting Women. A former staff writer for The New Yorker ,xa0she has written for The New York Times Magazine , Vogue , W ,xa0and The New York Times Book Review. Born in Philadelphia, she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Harvard University and now lives in Italy.