Publisher's Synopsis
A sweeping multi-generational story about motherhood, race and secrets in the lives of three women.When 24-year-old Kareela discovers she's pregnant with a child she isn't sure she wants, it amplifies her struggle to understand her place in the world as a person who is half-Black, half-white, and yet feels neither.Her mother, Evelyn, fled to Canada with her husband and their first-born child during the politically charged Jamaican Exodus in the 80s, only to realize they'd come to a place where Black men are viewed with suspicion.Years later, in the aftermath of her son's murder by the police, Evelyn's mother-in-law, Violet, moves in, offering young Kareela a link to the Jamaican heritage she had never fully known.In the present day, Kareela, prompted by fear and uncertainty about the new life she carries, must come to terms with the mysteries surrounding her family's past and the need to make sense of both her identity and her future.Weaving the women's stories across multiple timelines, We Rip the World Apart reveals the ways that simple choices, made in the heat of the moment and with the best of intentions, can have deeper repercussions than we could have imagined, especially when we stay silent.
