In the Palm of Darkness (Harperflamingo)Paperback - Harperflamingo, 23 June 1998

Anchored in the mythical and magical world of Haitian spirituality, where the living become the murdered dead, and the dead wander as zombies among the living, "In the Palm of Darkness" is a book with a fresh and particularly fascinating point of view that will appeal to readers seeking something new and unexpected in fiction.

"In the Palm of Darkness" tells the story of American herpetologist Victor Griggs and Haitian guide Thierry Adrien, who are searching for an amphibian known as the blood frog (grenouille du sang) in the mountains of violence-torn Haiti. The rich and tragic tale of Thierry's family, his life and loves and his curious destiny, forms a backdrop for the obsessive search of the two men from different cultures, and opens a window onto another way of understanding the world.

Cuban-born Mayra Montero, who has been compared to Alejo Carpentier, Graham Greene and Julio Cortazar, weaves a darkly suggestive tapestry of Haitian lore and character in a novel of the Caribbean that will intrigue and unsettle."A dazzling, original fugue on love and extinction."