Meet Josephine, the most loveable mischief-maker in Barbados, in a magical, heartfelt adventure inspired by Caribbean mythology.
Eleven-year-old Josephine knows that no one is good enough for her daddy. That’s why she’s desperate to make it onto her school’s cricket team. She’ll get to play her favorite sport AND make sure her fisherman daddy is too busy attending her matches to date.
But when tryouts go badly, the frustrated Josephine cuts into a powerful silk cotton tree and accidentally summons a bigger problem into her life . . .The next day, Daddy brings home a new catch, a beautiful woman named Mariss. And unlike the other girlfriends, she doesn’t scare easily. Josephine knows there’s something fishy about Mariss–she sings in a strange language, eats weird food, and seems to exert mysterious control over everyone she meets.
Josephine knows that Mariss isn’t what she seems…she might not be human! But who’s going to believe her? Can Josephine convince her friends to help her and use her cricket skills to save Daddy from Mariss’s clutches before it’s too late?
Review:
As soon as you start reading Josephine Against the Sea by Shakirah Bourne, you’ll get a very clear picture of not only the environment you’re in, but also that the lead character is someone you’re going to be rooting for despite her initial mischievousness. This is a testament to not only Bourne’s storytelling abilities and inspired character work, but also her clear love of her home island of Barbados which is on full display as one of the books main characters. Yes, you’ll bear the heat, smell the fish market, feel the ocean breeze, and taste the salt in the air, and you’ll love it!
Josephine Against the Sea, the first in the Josephine Against the “something” series, serves as a bit of an origin story for the book’s intrepid would-be heroine, Josephine Elisabeth Zara Cadogan. What’s at stake is not only the fate of her father’s dating life, but to a certain degree, the village of Fairy Vale (a real place), her home.
I’m being a little glib here for the fun of it, but as the book starts out, you’ll see that Josephine’s main priority in life, besides the sport of cricket, is her dad’s many suitors. More specifically, coming up with imaginative and sometimes stinky ways to scare off any potential step-monsters. Her cohort and trusted sidekick in these endeavors is her neighbor and best friend Ahkai, an inquisitive critical thinker who loves reading and is somewhere on the Autism Spectrum. They make a formidable dynamic duo who have a perfect record when it comes to keeping her dad single. That is until the enigmatic Mariss enters the picture and proves to be more challenging, and strange, than either of them could have predicted.
One thing that’s easy to assign, but more difficult to understand for some, is that Josephine is ultimately a selfish person, but I wouldn’t hold that against her any more than I would hold Ahkai’s peculiarities against him. She’s a teenager who’s suffered a great loss with the premature death of her mother and who’s holding on to what’s left of her family with all her might. And to ensure you don’t view her as anything other than sympathetic, Shakirah does an incredible job of displaying Jo’s anxieties and insecurities. She’s an entirely three-dimensional character who will command your attention and earn your love, no question, and this is the type of superb character work you can expect from Shakirah the rest of the way.
Josephine is a very capable 11-year-old, something that was born out of necessity, but also, in most parts of the world, more is expected from children at that age than in North America. This is not only realistic but practical from a storytelling standpoint, as it really captures what’s great about middle grade books, the notion that adults are bad, clumsy, cynical, and jaded. Usually with the exception of a sage-like character (Miss Mo, Ahkai’s mother), most of the adults have lost their sense of wonderment and imagination, thus making them susceptible to enchantments. So, it’s up to the kids to ward off any evil spirits, demons, or ne’er-do-wells, and who are left with no other choice but to fend for themselves.
The fantasy appeal of this book is very apparent, making the in-universe mythology indelibly attractive and very fun to read. Coupled with the fact that Shakirah uses real-world Afro-Caribbean mythos only makes this book a very strong start to the series. In story, this idea is reinforced by eccentric characters like Miss Mo and the school’s groundskeeper Casper, who maintain certain aspects of that Afro-Caribbean mythology are alive and well. So much that creatures like Soucouyants and Mami Watas shouldn’t be relegated to just bed-time stories and lore, but dire warnings and cautionary tales. The naysayers will write-off any occurrences, such as a bad day of fishing, as being purely coincidental or easily explained, certainly not because a River Mumma made it so. So, Shakirah has created an environment that is at odds with even itself, the old world, meets the new, it’s wonderful.
As the maybe/maybe not antagonist, Mariss runs so hot and cold with everyone that you’re not always quite sure what’s going on. One minute, she’s the greatest thing to ever happen to their community, the next, not so much. But Shakirah creates enough doubt that at least few times you’ll start to wonder if a mournful and desperate Jo is imagining things, making Mariss out to be something she’s not, a red herring. Eventually, things reach a critical point and even the scientifically minded Ahkai can no longer deny what’s happening, but the path to this rationale for the community is a bit of a bumpy ride filled with small victories. And for much of the second and third act, Josephine plays the role of the boy who cried River Mumma, many calling into question her actions and motivations.
Mariss of course represents more than just a mythological siren from the sea or a daddy-stealing she-devil; she is the manifestation of loss, sorrow, and grief, and wouldn’t even be there if not for Josephine’s mournful acts. But don’t make the mistake and dismiss her as simply the “baddie”, there’s more going on there than what the local fisherman would have you believe. And even though her methods might seem a little unorthodox or extreme, she’s not an entirely unsympathetic character. In fact, besides Josephine, she’s my favorite in the book. And its in these scenes, where Mariss is trying to be a surrogate mother of sorts to Josephine, is the where the book shines very bright. It’s one versus the other in so many ways, but in others, you know Josephine is in desperate need of some kind of emotional connection. It’s great stuff by Shakirah.
As for world-building, the contemporary Barbados, on its own, feels like Fantasy Island even without the added mythological element. It’s lush, beautiful, dangerous, and has an old-world aesthetic that makes for a great backdrop in the mystery genre. But once Shakirah combines both the real-world Arcadia of Fairy Vale with her stylized fictional elements, this book really takes off from that standpoint. And you can see how, to the white Western gaze, it seems like paradise, fit for a one week vacation of hair braiding and skin toning, but for a local girl with big dreams, not so much. I love these parts of the book where Shakirah has Josephine dream bigger dreams while ultimately finding a love and appreciate for her home she’s been perhaps denying.
It takes a bit of a backseat to the Mariss storyline, but I really loved Shakirah’s take on female empowerment, specifically having Josephine trying to break a few barriers on the cricket pitch. Like I said, if there’s anything Josephine cares more about than her father, it’s probably cricket, and there’s a lot of wonderful affirmative moments in the book where Josephine has to work a little harder than the boys, just to get the coach’s attention. This is despite the fact she’s clearly talented enough to be on the team. This makes for some uncomfortable moments in the book, especially the way she’s treated by her peers, but the payoff is huge, making her not only stronger, but wiser. And if she should garner the attention of a few classmates in the meantime, so be it.
So, what’s the bottom line?
Using a straightforward approach; Shakirah combines the cynicism and critical thinking of the new world, with the dogmatic and sacrosanct magic of the old to weave a really great tapestry. It’s got emotional punch as well as just the right amount of mischief as to not draw too much attention from the authorities.
Josephine is perfect as the sleuth-y, get-the-job-done heroine who possesses all the qualities you look for in a champion, with courage and heart both very high on that list. Indeed, I’m very much looking forward to the next book in the series, Josephine Against the Heartman, due out 2023 sometime.
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About the Author:
Shakirah Bourne is a Barbadian author and filmmaker. Her first feature film, the comedy-drama, PAYDAY, was screened throughout the Caribbean, USA and UK. She has written three films since its debut in 2013: Two Smart (writer/co-director), Next PAYDAY (writer/producer) and A Caribbean Dream (writer/director). A Caribbean Dream is distributed by Verve Pictures and had a cinema release in London in 2017. The film won several awards, including Best Drama at the National Film Awards UK, Best International Feature at the Charlotte Black Film Festival and best UK Feature at the London Independent Film Festival.
Her short stories have been featured in many literary journals (see below). Her self-published collection of short stories, IN TIME OF NEED (2013), won the prestigious Governor General Award for Excellence in Literary Fiction. She was a finalist for the BURT/CODE Award for Caribbean Literature in 2018. The Caribbean edition of her middle grade novel, MY FISHY STEPMOM, was published by Blue Banyan Books (2019) and the North American edition, JOSEPHINE AGAINST THE SEA, will be published by Scholastic in 2021.
She was a Part-time Lecturer at the Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, and is a Part-Time Lecturer in Screenwriting at the Barbados Community College. She currently holds Certificates in Screenwriting from the Barbados Community College and the University of Edinburgh, and an MA (Hons) in Arts and Cultural Management from Queen Margaret University.
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