Hitting all the right notes
Winnipeg author Zilla Jones' debut novel is an historical fiction saga exploring identity, race, belonging, colonialism, sexual assault, motherhood and the healing power of music.
Jones herself is a powerhouse. The anti-racism activist, defence lawyer and writer also has a background as an opera singer, and she uses all these elements to create a powerful story.
The title The World So Wide comes from the opera The Tender Land, about a woman who ventures 'into a great shining unknown, armed only with her dreams and determination,' as Jones describes it.
The World So Wide
The story opens in October 1983. Felicity Alexander, a world-renowned opera singer, should be preparing for her appearance at the Metropolitan.
Instead, she's under house arrest at Government House in Grenada alongside her old university friends, including Prime Minister Neville Carpenter and his advisor (and Felicity's one-time lover), Claude Buckingham.
The narrative moves between Felicity's house arrest and her memories of the events that brought her to this time.
Felicity takes us through her childhood in Winnipeg, where she was abandoned by her white father and raised by her hard-working but emotionally absent Grenadian mother.
Felicity's talent for singing wins her a scholarship to the prestigious Guildhall School in London, England.
There she falls in love with Claude, a Grenadian man dedicated to overthrowing the country's corrupt government and ushering in a truly egalitarian regime.
But love isn't enough to keep them together. Felicity wants to conquer the white-dominated opera world, while Claude plans to return to Grenada to rebuild the country from the shattering effects of colonialism.
When Felicity receives an invitation to sing at a benefit in Grenada she takes it, hoping to reunite with Claude. Instead, she finds herself in the middle of a revolution with the chance to speak up for her people.
Though all characters are fictional, the events are based on the actual 1983 invasion of Grenada by the United States and a coalition of Caribbean nations.
Jones immerses readers in Felicity's experiences as a biracial woman who, despite her intelligence, charisma and talent, never feels at home anywhere.
Ian McCausland photo
Winnipeg lawyer and author Zilla Jones has won numerous writing prizes for her short fiction.
Among white characters, she's seen as Black, and experiences racism starting as a child. But Black characters often assume Felicity receives privileges thanks to her lighter skin.
As Neville explains after Felicity is snubbed by members of their group, 'There are lots of divisions among Black people. It started during slavery. The white men raped our women and the people that resulted were treated better than the darker ones… so some darker-skinned people resent lighter-skinned people like you.'
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Felicity experiences both micro-aggressions, such as people commenting that Black people have wonderful musical gifts, and outright racial violence.
Jones also dismantles the myth of Canada as a haven of equality, with Felicity's mother noting that she had to fool the Canadian government to immigrate as a Black woman. 'I worked in a munitions factory in London during the war, and then I heard that Canada was looking for people. They thought I was a white English lady. Imagine their surprise when they saw my Black face, and it was too late to do anything about it,' she says.
At other times, Felicity's struggles are more universally relatable, such as a 35-year-old Felicity's exasperation over her mother treating her as a child.
Jones' novel is a gift and a magnificent read that will leave readers crying for an encore.
Kathryne Cardwell is a writer in Treaty One Territory.
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