A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars by Yaba Badoe
Yaba Badoe’s A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars is a complex magical realist narrative that follows Sante Williams, a fourteen-year-old girl who was the sole survivor of a tragic shipwreck as an infant. The novel details her life within a traveling circus, her discovery of her true Ashanti heritage, and her supernatural struggle against the human traffickers responsible for her family’s death. Part I: The Nightmare and the Sea-Chest The story is framed by Sante’s recurring nightmare of a sinking ship, an “iron monster” that rams a dilapidated trawler filled with refugees. In this dream, she witnesses the terror of men and women with “brown and black faces” as a fuel tank explodes, turning the sea into a roiling soup of blood and oil. She recalls the “stench like an over-ripe mango” and a tall man bundling a baby into a sea-chest laden with “yellow dust” (gold) and “glittering stones” (diamonds) before flinging it into the sea. Sante realizes that the baby in the water is herself, smiling at a “jigsaw of fire and stars” reflected in her eyes as the ship burns. Sante was found the next morning by Priss, a bright golden eagle, and Mama Rose, a formidable …