With summer around the corner, it is time to think about books to take on vacation. Here are all the books we are taking with us for our vacation. This book’s list makes a great summer read. Written by Caribbean authors, the books take us to the mesmerizing beauty of stunning white sand beaches and sheer blue water of the Caribbean islands. So, if you are taking your vacation in the Caribbean islands, here is the list of your must-read books for this summer.

One Day, One Day, Congotay by Merle Hodge

One Day, One Day, Congotay is a novel written by Merle Hodge, a Trinidadian author, and social and cultural activist. Hodge is acknowledged as the first black Caribbean woman to have published a major work of fiction. This richly womanist novel takes readers to the dynamic life of Gwynneth Cuffie intertwined between tragic and comic. An unquestionably good woman, Gwynneth is a  teacher, lover of children and music, and pillar of her community who continues to struggle against colonialism on the Caribbean island of Cayeri. Gwynneth triumphs by finding a way between self-hatred, class, and racial tensions taught by colonial education and passed down within the Cuffie family and love transmitted by the Spiritual Baptist Church. The novel teaches that family is all about love, through struggle better must come.

Hurricane Watch by Olive Senior

Hurricane Watch puts together the first four books of poetry written by Olive Senior alongside a new collection. Olive Senior is a Jamaican Poet Laureate, recipient of the Musgrave Gold Medal in 2005 from the Institute of Jamaica. Senior has long been recognized as a skillful and evocative storyteller and award-winning author of twenty books of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and children’s literature. Hurricane Watch: New and Collected Poems intertwines mango trees, magpies, Christmas pudding, and global and racial injustice and environmental issues. This book is a poetry masterpiece.

Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James

Written by the award-winning Jamaican novelist Marlon James, Moon Witch, Spider King is the third book in the dark star trilogy, the African Game of Thrones. Critics say this novel is an instant New York Times bestseller. The second book of the author trilogy, Black Leopard, Red Wolf, is already a New York Times bestseller and bestselling National Book Award finalist for fiction in 2019. In Moon Witch, Spider King, the author puts Sogolon at center stage and gives her own account of what happened to the boy, and how she plotted and fought, triumphed, and failed as she looked for him. Moon Witch, Spider King is definitely one of the best fiction books of 2022. If you are into a fiction book, Moon Witch, Spider King will definitely make happiness while you are sipping your cocktail in the Caribbean islands.

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

A debut novel, Black Cake is a story of how the inheritance of betrayals, secrets, memories, and even names, can shape relationships and history. Reading Black Cake takes you to the extraordinary life of a family that was changed forever by the choices of its matriarch. Written by an American writer who fell in love with the Caribbean while living in Jamaica, Black Cake is a journey of discovery that takes Byron and Benny from the Caribbean to London to California and ends with the legendary black cake. As Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Malibu Rising, quoted, “Black Cake is a beautiful, deeply resonant story of children trying to understand the mother they have lost”.

When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo

When We Were Birds is a mystic love story set in Trinidad and Tobago. A masterwork of lush imagination, immersive lyricism, and exuberant storytelling, this book is a spellbinding and hopeful novel about inheritance, loss, and love's seismic power to heal.

Marlon James, New York Times bestselling author of Black Leopard, Red Wolf,  quoted When We Were Birds is “a searing symphony of magic and loss, love and hope, where in the middle of death, love comes shiny, sparkling and alive. This book might just heal you.”

In this novel, the author introduces two unforgettable outsiders, Yejide and Darwin who will meet inside the gates of Fidelis, an ancient and sprawling cemetery, and beckon to their fate.

The Island of Forgetting by Jasmine Sealy

The Island of Forgetting is a powerful story of family and hope, an engrossing saga of love, family, and the undying past. This fiction introduces an unknowable legacy that passes through four generations of one family, a family living on the beautiful island of Barbados and running a beachfront hotel. The novel shows the echo of deep and sometimes tragic love and the ways a family’s past can haunt its future.

Neruda on the Park by Cleyvis Natera

Neruda on the Park is an exhilarating debut novel following members of a Dominican family in New York City who take radically different paths when faced with encroaching gentrification. The Guerreros, a Dominican American family at the center of this debut lives in Upper Manhattan’s Nothar Park, each member has a different reaction when they are threatened by luxury condominiums and high-rises show different reactions. The novel is about family, friendship, ambition, and community. The book examines the sacrifices people make to protect what they love the most.

Don’t Go Baking My Heart by N.G. Peltier

Don’t Go Baking My Heart takes readers to the sizzling chemistry between the workaholic and control freak Devon and his complete opposite Reba while he tries to win an upcoming office bake-off competition. Reba doesn’t fit into Devon’s carefully crafted life and as he tries to focus on winning the company contest, he discovers that sweet treats aren’t the only thing baking in the kitchen, and all his perfect plans are crumbling. The novel talks about friendship which turned into one night stand and romance. This book is an African American contemporary romance, it makes a great beach read. And if you are visiting Trinidad and Tobago, the author mentions various sightseeing spots. The author was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago.

What a Mother's Love Don't Teach You

What a Mother's Love Don't Teach You is a powerful story of belonging, identity, and inheritance. This debut novel introduces readers to a mother’s unshakeable love for her son. Dinah, an eighteen years old mother, gave away her baby son to the rich couple she worked for before they left Jamaica. They never returned. She never forgot him. Eighteen years later, a young man comes from the US to Kingston. From the moment she sees him, Dinah never doubts this is her son. Besides mother’s love, this book explores Jamaica’s ghetto, dance halls, the criminal underworld, and corrupt politics.

Summing it up:

Here we are, the list of all the books we are taking with us for our vacation. There is a large choice between award-winning fiction and debut novel. These books take readers to the Caribbean islands, covering different topics. From fighting against colonial education heritage to the unshakeable mother’s love for her, passing through romance and family life, your summer book will definitely stick you on the beach of your Caribbean destination.