Wednesday 22 May 1830 - 1930

We’re thrilled to welcome Monique Roffey back to the Custom House, after her time as writer-in-residence, with her new novel Passiontide.

Four women spark a revolution on a Caribbean island – the electrifying new novel from the Costa-winning author of The Mermaid of Black Conch.

Early one morning, at the close of St Colibri’s carnival, a young female steel-pan player is found dead beneath a cannonball tree. It is a discovery that will transform the lives of everyone on this small island.

As the days pass, this shocking event draws together four women. There’s Sharleen, a journalist with an eye for the real story. Her childhood friend Tara, the pink-haired, straight-talking star of the activism scene. Gigi, the ‘notorious’ founder of the Port Isabella Sex Workers Collective. And Daisy, first lady of St Colibri, who is haunted by a disappearance in her own family decades ago.

In a community in which women’s voices are often silenced and violence against them is often overlooked, the group soon find themselves compelled to speak out – and to act. But even they could never have foreseen the consequences of their courage…

Passiontide is a fiercely alive novel about women daring to imagine a different world. It confirms Monique Roffey as one of our most spellbinding storytellers. 

This event will also be streamed live on YouTube. You can book a ‘pay what you can’ ticket to join the stream here.  You will receive a link that will go live on YouTube at 6.30pm on Weds 22nd May.

About the author

Monique Roffey, FRSL, is an award winning Trinidadian born British writer of novels, essays, literary journalism and a memoir.  The Mermaid of Black Conch, won the Costa Book of the Year Award, 2020, and was nominated for eight other major awards. Her other Caribbean novels, The White Woman on the Green Bicycle and House of Ashes have also been nominated for awards. Archipelago won the OCM Bocas Award for Caribbean Literature in 2013. Her work has been translated into many languages. She is a co-founder of Writers Rebel within Extinction Rebellion. She is a Professor of Contemporary Fiction at Manchester Metropolitan University. Passiontide, her new novel, is out May 2024.

Image credit: Matilda Hill-Jenkins